


(They Long to Be) Close to You

by humaninventorysystem



Series: Dark Fix-It | Break It Differently | series [2]
Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Break It Differently, Canon Typical Triggers, Canon-Typical Violence, Fix-It of Sorts, Heavy Angst, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Unrequited Love, kinda gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:54:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26605555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humaninventorysystem/pseuds/humaninventorysystem
Summary: The continuation of the story about a girl wrapped up in a story about a boy and a girl.Please remember that this fic follows Dark REALLY closely up to a certain point. So all of its triggering content is still generally in the fic series (minus the glorification of Martha x Jonas and subsequent things meaning those aspects are still there just not actually glorified as they are in the show). So please keep this in mind before reading.*SPOILERS*This is the secong part of the three world series. The first world's title is 'Yesterday Once More' and the last world's title will be 'Only Yesterday.' So stay on the look out for those.
Relationships: Bartosz Tiedemann/Original Character(s), Jonas Kahnwald & Martha Nielsen, Jonas Kahnwald/Martha Nielsen, Jonas Kahnwald/Original Character(s), Martha Nielsen/Original Characters(s)
Series: Dark Fix-It | Break It Differently | series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825189
Comments: 18
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

_If we knew how things would end where our journey would take us would we still make the same decisions? Or would we choose a different path? Could we escape our fate? Or would what is deep within us lead us to the same end, like an invisible hand? Does it matter which path we choose? If we end up facing ourselves again and again?_

A strange man with a cleft lip walked into Sic Mundus’ office followed by a girl already known to us, yet somehow very different from how we saw her last. They stared up at the painting of ‘The Fallen of the Damned’. His lantern squeaking as it swayed with each step they took. They both looked around the office as if searching for something. When the man found the plan for the time machine. He carefully folded it into his pocket. Annalise, walked over seeing herself laying dead on one of the couches. The body looked so painstakingly cared for. It was as if she was supposed to be preserved for eternity. She reached over in a mystified horror and moved the hair from her face and plucked a petal of one of the roses stuck within the wound at her waist. The breathing girl stared at the dead girl in a lovely white dress with red roses sticking out of her. She crumpled the petal in her hand and turned to the man nodding. Her face dripping with tears. Two more people then emerged from the shadows into the room. A young boy and an old man who looked exactly like the man walked in with lanterns. They all looked at each other before setting the room ablaze. After setting the room on fire, they all surrounded the girl to give her a gentle embrace. Annalise watched as her soft innocent dead mirrored self in Adam’s world became engulfed into the hellish flickers.

That morning, Annalise ran down the steps of the Nielsen home. She was going to be late to being early if she didn’t hurry. That nightmare from last night certainly didn't help her. Who was that boy and why did Martha seem different? She shook her head. She really wanted to make it to school so that she could talk to her crush privately without the rest of the group there. It wasn’t like everyone, well besides maybe him, didn’t already know that she had an interest in the boy, but she wanted to be able to have an excuse to be alone with him. Right as she reached the bottom step, Ulrich scooped her up into his arms and swung her around. 

“Where are you going in such a hurry,” Ulrich laughed, setting the girl back down. He smiled at the young girl that had grown to be like a daughter to him and Hannah. It was nice to sometimes pretend she was actually Martha and that his kids didn’t fully hate him. But, she was just Annalise, his children’s best friend. So at least she was somewhat of a connection and a reason to see them.

Annalise smiled and laughed as he swung her around. After having lost her own father, it was nice to have a surrogate one, even if he was the estranged father of your best friends. She smiled up at the man as he put her down, “To school. I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now.”

Ulrich looked down at his watch, “No. No, you won’t. School doesn’t start for nearly another hour.” He walked with her through the house.

Annalise nodded and shrugged, “Yeah, well… If I walk, that only makes me twenty minutes early and I…”

Ulrich smiled a knowing smile, “You wanted to meet someone, didn’t you?” He was never early like that back in the day unless he was going to meet Katharina and Annalise had that same lovestruck look on her face. Her hair and outfit basically screamed for someone to take notice of her.

“I did not,” Annalise blushed and hit his shoulder, “I just had some projects I wanted to prepare for so I wanted to go in early.”

Ulrich laughed and grabbed his keys, “So nothing to do with that rich boy you’ve been staring at?”

“His name’s Bartosz,” Annalise defended forgetting she was supposed to be in denial for a second then turned, “But no! It is not because of him. I have to drop off a few papers and start practicing my speeches.” She followed him to his car, “I will see you later.” She started to walk down the driveway.

Ulrich shook his head, “Jump in, I’ll drive you.” The man started to tease her once again, “We don’t have to continue talking about Bartosz if you don’t want to.”

Annalise playfully sneered at him then got into the car with him. She really couldn’t say no. She knew this was possibly the best route to take if she wanted to catch up. While they drove, she looked out into the woods.

Bartosz walked to school. He wanted to get there early to prepare for his speech for his class today. He was still a bit nervous about it. His paper was actually on the same type of work his father ran so why wouldn’t he have been nervous to present it. He stared down at his work as he walked until a car slowed next to him. 

Annalise saw Bartosz and told Ulrich to stop. She gave the man a quick hug and told him that she would see him when he got home. Then she hopped out the vehicle. “Hey,” she greeted him with a wild smile. The girl was very excited that she caught up to him and didn’t actually pass him up.

“Hey,” Bartosz greeted. Seeing that it was just Anna, he went back down to his notecards.

Annalise pouted, “Bartosz.” She stood in front of him trying to get the boy’s attention. She laughed, “I guess I have to forgive you. I am a foreigner so my German can still be bad.”

Bartosz blushed. He bit his lip for a second. “Yeah.” he quickly looked up after realizing what he was agreeing with, “You’re German isn’t bad.” He shook his head trying to explain himself to the girl next to him.

Annalise smiled and laughed, “Oh now you’re going to pay attention to me? I have to insult myself for you to look up?”

Bartosz turned his face away, “It’s not like that, Anna.” He tried to keep his eyes from making eye contact with her or even looking at her outfit. His heart fluttered as the girl started to play with his scarf. Did she really have to wear something so enticing to school, he thought to himself, it was as if Anna was begging for him to make a move. He felt completely bewitched by her and her antics. He just wished he had the courage just to grab her and hold her in his arms. He let out a huff trying to feign annoyance. 

“Is it not,” Annalise teased and leaned closer towards him. After getting a few centimeters from his face, she backed away giggling. She threw part of his scarf over his shoulder so that it was actually being used as a scarf. She wished that she knew how he felt so that way she could use it and the pompous jacket he always wore to pull him down and kiss him. Instead, though, they just walked to school while the girl teased him and tried to get his attention.

It wasn’t long after they were in school and put their things away in their lockers that their friends had arrived. By that point, Annalise had tossed on her headphones and was listening to music knowing that she was probably not going to be talked too much.

Martha looked at her foreign friend. She tapped her shoulder and waited for her friend to acknowledge her. “You didn’t walk with me this morning,” she complained, “where were you?” Normally they always went to school together, but lately, her best friend had been acting really weird. 

Annalise shrugged, “I just walked to school with Bartosz. Right?” She lied. The girl really didn’t want to tell the truth that Ulrich had offered to drop her off that morning. She thought that he must really have missed his kids because he was pouring all of his paternal instincts into her. She really didn’t want to tell her friends about that though because she thought it would just bring up what they both had been suppressing for a long time. Annalise really didn’t want to deal with that this morning. So she looked towards her friend pleadingly asking for his help in the deception.

Bartosz nodded, “Yeah. Sorry about that.” He gave Martha a small chuckle and shrug before going back to his presentation cards.

Magnus laughed. He greeted Bartosz with their handshake and leaned over to tease so that only Bartosz could hear, “You two should just fuck already.” He pulled away to see his friend fumble his cards nearly dropping them to the ground while his face was completely red.

Martha looked at the boy and asked, “Have you seen Kilian?” Her heart slightly broke seeing Annalise so sweet to Bartosz. She loved being the closest person to Annalise. Yet since Bartosz got back from his leave of absence after his mother’s death, the girl’s attention was back on that boy. She couldn’t blame her too much. She did start dating Killian pretty recently too.

Bartosz shook his head, “Nope.” He focused back on his cards that were now terribly out of order because of Magnus’s comment. Annalise must have noticed as well because she started to help rearrange them back with him.

“Why all the effort,” Magnus turned to continue his conversation with Martha, “We all die in the end.”

Martha rolled her eyes, “Are you sure you’re not adopted?”

“Are you sure you don’t have a stick up your ass that needs surgical removal,” Magnus countered as the group walked up the stairs. 

Kilian walked down the other flight of stairs and greeted Martha, “Hey Martha.”

“Kilian,” Martha greeted. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss while Magnus and Annalise started to text. She opened one eye slightly to peer at the other girl to see if she was going to have a reaction.

Awkwardly, Bartosz asked, “Is there any news about Erik?” He knew he still had lingering feelings for the girl making out with the boy in the hallway. He looked towards Annalise who was still texting and listening to music making her too busy to notice. He felt glad. He knew those feelings for Martha were all for not and he would hate to have Annalise give up just over the remnants of a soul mate who wasn’t supposed to be.

Kilian pulled away from his girlfriend and held her hand, “No.”

The group all started to walk again leaving Bartosz and Annalise in the back. Magnus spoke up, “It’s all pretty creepy.”

“Good morning,” Katharina’s rang through the halls, “We request all grades to gather in the gym for first-period assembly.”

The group stopped and huddled together. Magnus looked towards Kilian, “It’ll be about your brother.” He tried to warn his sister’s boyfriend just in case it was going to be a sore subject for him so that Kilian could just skip it if the boy wanted to.

“It’s been two weeks already,” Killian explained, “He’s never been away this long. He’d always send me a message whenever he couldn’t stand it at home anymore.” He sighed, “But this time, nothing.”

Everyone else awkwardly shifted. Martha leaned a bit towards Annalise while she and Bartosz leaned towards each other. Magnus shifted towards Bartosz but commented, “Let’s go. Otherwise, Mom will be angry.” He turned to leave with Killian and Martha. Annalise started to leave, but noticed that Bartosz was lagging behind again, so she waited for him in the hall. Bartosz turned to stare at Erik’s missing poster and silently wondered what happened to him.

“It’s all going to happen again,” Helge whispered to himself, “It will happen again.” 

Peter looked on at his father mumbling to himself. When he heard the door open and close to reveal his wife, he leaned towards her and whispered, “It’s all he’s been saying since this morning.” He turned to Charlotte and asked, “How’d it go at the doctor’s?”

Charlotte shook her head, “Fine. Just a check up.” She looked to her concerned husband and said, “I have to go. I’m running late. I just forgot something.” She walked back out of the house.

Jonas jogged out from the cave that this new Martha had dropped him in. He trekked his way home to find it was not as it seemed. Instead, what he found was that the rest of the Nielsen’s lived there. He jogged up to his room to a very different sight. He looked at the taped pictures on the wall. One with Martha, Bartosz, and a boy Killian from his school. The other of Annalise and her making cute poses in different polaroids, one of which was them kissing each others’ cheeks. He shook his head in confusion. This was entirely strange. How could a place so similar be so different?

Ulrich gave a meeting about Erik’s disappearance to the police station. He made a face as he spoke. He was reminded of Mads as he tried his best to try to find any leads he could get his team to work.

Hannah was vacuuming in the house as Ulrich and Annalise were at work and school. She walked to Ulrich’s dirty hoodie from that morning and went to put it in the laundry. When she lifted it up, a blonde hair caught her eye. She lifted it up with her brow furrowed. The pregnant woman lifted up his jacket and sniffed it. She placed it down deciding what she needed to do was to investigate Annalise and Katharina about this matter.

“Well a black hole forms when a central region collapses in upon itself,” Bartosz anxiously explained to the class, “and it contains neutrons. Well, more like neutron matter. But not enough of it. So when the light of a star three times the mass of the sun goes out…then it explodes… No sorry. It implodes. And that is a black hole.”

Martha sat in class doodling without paying attention. She only looked up when a strange blond boy walked into her classroom. He was dirty, sweaty, and had a noose scarring around his neck. 

“Can I help you,” The teacher asked the boy. When he didn’t respond he tried again, “Hello? Are you new?”

Jonas turned and told the teacher, “I’m Jonas.” The shock that he was in an entirely new world where no one knew him still lingered. His mind was not entirely clear enough to understand that in this realm, he did not exist.

The teacher reached for his planner, “Are you sure this is your class? I wasn’t notified of any new students. A signature is missing.”

Martha turned to Killian. Something ate at her about this boy. There was this feeling. As if she knew him from somewhere. She just couldn’t place where. There was something missing about him. Martha couldn’t figure any of it out.

Jonas just walked to the back of the class and sat down. Everything about this was strange. He could recognize everyone, but yet everything was so different… Almost opposite of how he remembered things. 

With that, Bartosz continued his speech as the new strange boy stared at Martha, “So then we have a black hole. And it has a huge gravitational pull. Everything flying around the hole is drawn to it and somehow dragged inside.”

Suddenly, the door opened again. This time it revealed Annalise. Jonas’s breath got taken away. There she was, yet she seemed so different. Her outfit was… more outgoing… showy. Her lips looked as if they were gnawed at. Her hair was shorter and wilder. He watched as her eyes first met Bartosz’s causing them both to blush. Jonas’s heart started to sink. She bit her lip before the teacher interrupted their moment, “Ms. Dahlheim. To your seat please.” Annalise nodded and went to walk to her seat.

The world stopped when she spotted the boy. Her heart froze in place. Her breath refused to exhale or inhale. She was there. Locked in fear. There he was, in the flesh. Annalise turned back to the teacher, “Sorry. I’ve…” Her body wretched seeing him. The small breakfast she had with Martha right before going into class burned coming back into her throat. Her hands rushed to her mouth as she ran back outside. 

Jonas stared down at his bloody hands. His heart raced. He shook his head as the memories of what happened just basically an hour ago, for him, rushed through him. He shook as he listened to Bartosz who had turned towards the teacher. The man’s voice replied, “After your presentation Mr Tiedemann.”

Bartosz started to rush through his talk as Martha turned to look at the boy who made Annalise turn and run like that, “Other stars, planets, and even light. The gravitational force is so strong that even light is pulled into it. Nothing can escape it’s inside. Basically no one knows what’s behind it/ Maybe nothing. Or maybe a new world. A world in which nothing is as it is in ours.” Jonas started to panic as he noticed Martha’s and Annalise’s reactions to him.

“All I’m asking is to review your employees’ shift schedules,” Charlotte told Aleksander, “Erik was last seen on the forest road. The schedules will allow us to check employee vehicles with the tire treads we found.

Aleksander asked her, “Do you have a court order?”

Charlotte raised her brow, yet shook her head, “This is a request. Not an order.”

Aleksander sighed and handed her his card, “I’ll have someone search them out.” He also made a note to himself to keep him reminded.

“How are you,” the woman asked.

Aleksander sighed and placed down his pen, “Holding up.”

“Okay then,” Charlotte said standing up. She then turned and commented, “I was wondering… Do you think Erik could have made his way onto the grounds? The caves are partly located under the nuclear power plant.”

Aleksander shook his head, “That’s impossible. The access point was sealed up years ago. No one can get in that way.”

Charlotte nodded and walked out of the man’s office as Aleksander turned to look at the pictures of his dead wife on his desk.

“A quick reminder that all afternoon activities after four o’clock are canceled due to the parents’ meeting,” Katharina’s voice echoed through the school from the intercom system. Hannah stood in the hallway listening to the woman before going to talk to her. Annalise had texted her about her throwing up and Hannah was actually worried now. Katharina’s voice continued, “Except theater, which will go on as planned, but vacate the auditorium an hour earlier. The school newspaper will meet in the youth cafe today under the supervision of Mr. Hopf.”

Hannah walked to Katharina’s office just as the blonde was walking out, “Katharina.”

Katharina held her folders in front of herself and asked defensively, “What are you doing here?”

“Annalise texted me. She’s sick,” She said, taking out her phone to show her that the teenager did text her about vomiting. When Katharina seemed to accept this answer, Hannah saw her opening to also tell her, “I also wanted to see you.”

Katharina nodded. Of course Hannah would have some alternative motive, the woman thought. Aloud, Katharina said, “Uh-huh.”

Hannah shrugged and told her, “I don’t know. I know you and Ulrich… Ulrich and the kids… I know they’re a part of him. And I want you to know I won’t stand in the way of that.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Katharina said snidely. She walked away upset trying to forget this happened.

Hannah asked Katharina, causing the woman to stop, “Did Ulrich stop at your place this morning? He wanted to bring something by.”

Katharina shook her head, “Bring by what? Couldn’t he have had Annalise bring it?”

“I don’t know,” Hannah admitted, shaking her head and looking down towards the ground, “Something for school. For the kids.”

Katharina started to smile at the irony of the situation. She turned back fully to face the woman, “No.” She was very pleased now. This was all that she needed to feel better. The woman that took her husband away as her own, was now being cheated on by that same man. It was so cathartic. 

Hannah swallowed and nodded. She tried to cover everything up by saying, “Then maybe he forgot. Can you help me find my daughter please?”

The bell rang signalling to everyone that it was time to leave for their next class. Bartosz had already rushed off to try to find which bathroom Annalise had ran off to while she was sick. The rest of the class just shuffled trying to get ready to head out. Martha was still in a daze. She looked down at her phone and texted the other girl asking if she was alright and asking where she was. The teacher told the class, “Please don’t forget to turn in your presentations by next week. No exceptions!”

Jonas slowly approached Martha. He stared at her trying to figure out the words. Martha looked up at the boy confused. She shook her head at him and asked annoyed, “Something up?”

“You didn’t tell me why I’m here,” Jonas’s brow furrowed as he talked to her.

Martha shook her head, “Do we know each other?” She waited and turned to him, “Do you know Anna? Or rather should she know you?”

Jonas swallowed and said aloud without thinking, “You have no idea who I am.”

Martha stared at him. The space around them froze. She couldn’t quite understand anything that was going on, but there was something pulling her towards him. A feeling. A sense of knowing. Her phone beeped signalling a text from Annalise had just came through. Both of their eyes looked down at her phone. As she looked down to read it, Killian interrupted.

“You coming,” He asked the girl. He glared over towards Jonas’s direction. 

Martha looked towards him and grabbed her raincoat. She walked towards him leaving her play behind. She followed Killian but kept looking back at Jonas.

Jonas stared at the book. He was just about to pick it up when he remembered Annalise and Martha’s blood still was evident on his hands. He rubbed them off on his pants and panicked.

“Jonas, right,” The teacher asked, walking up to the blond boy, “Is everything okay?”

Jonas walked over to the man with a realization and asked, “What day is today?”

The man shook his head, “November 4th.”

Jonas licked his lips in thought and asked, “What year?”

“2019,” The man replied. He looked at the strange boy, “I don’t understand…”

Jonas interrupted his comments by brushing past him and storming into the hallway. He was back on the day it all started, yet everything was so different. He walked down the steps and looked around the cleared out halls for something familiar to him. Anything.

Hannah, having found Annalise, walked ahead of the girl. She was ready to get out of there. She felt as if everyone was staring, judging her. She readjusted her purse as she walked. Her eyes turned to see the lone boy in the hall.

Annalise slowed down seeing the boy in the hall as well. Her heart raced again. She started to hyperventilate. Her head started to spin. She leaned against the lockers trying to steady herself. Her eyes closed trying to stop the whirling. All that flashed through her mind was that dream. The boy leaning over her sobbing trying to have her stay alive as her midsection bled all over them. Her blood painted over her hands and all over his face and hands. It's almost as if some of it was still left on his face.

“Are you sure everything is in working order,” Aleksander asked. He walked around the accelerator that the woman he was speaking to had talked him into installing. She had told him that even if the power plant needed to shut down, the particle accelerator and her research would still keep the town alive. His hands traced one of the machinery components.

Mary turned to him. She smiled gently. It lit up the room in a dusk like state. Her gentle voice danced through the air as she spoke, “Don’t you trust me?” She laughed and said, “I’ve been working with you for so long and now you want to be afraid? You silly man.” Mary shook her head. Her sunset-like smile parted to let out a giggle, “It’s working perfectly, Mr. Tiedemann. Now, is this really all you wanted to discuss with me?” Her dementor slowly changed to one of sly and knowingness. Everything was going right as planned. Soon, he would leave her alone once more and she would be able to go with Noah to grab who they needed to continue the cycle once more.

“Mom,” Jonas called to Hannah who was just trying to leave. His jaw shivered as he tried to hold in his tears.

Hannah turned to the boy, “Pardon?” She looked towards Annalise who seemed to be having a moment herself. She looked back at Jonas and noticed a tear rolling down his face, “Are you okay?” She walked a bit closer to him. Something about this boy made her want to help. He reminded him of someone, but she couldn’t place who or from where. “Can I help you,” She asked. Jonas shook his head and watched as Hannah turned to leave. She looked to Annalise and back at him, “May you tell her that I’ll be waiting outside for her? I need to get some fresh air.”

Jonas nodded and turned to see Annalise shaking against a locker. From what he could hear, the girl was mumbling to herself. He slowly walked over to her. He placed a hand against her cheek. He whispered to her, “Lise?” When she didn’t reply, he placed his lips against hers. She tasted like strawberry chapstick. That was new. He held her face in his quivering hands.

The taste of iron brought Annalise back out of her thoughts. She blinked. The girl shoved the blond away. “What the hell,” She yelled as tears ran down her face, “Who the fuck even are you?” She could just punch him yet she couldn’t. There was something stopping her. Something called to her to rush back to him and kiss him again, but the large space between them held them separated. It was a comfort to her, as if it knew that they needed Space’s large interruption. Yet, it angered her. It felt as if it was keeping them from their destiny, from exactly where she needed to be. Bewildered tears fell from her quizzical eyes.

“I’m Jonas,” He whispered to her. He tried to close the gap between them, but his feet refused to move with the rest of his body for a second. He pushed through it and rushed to her. He held onto her shoulders. Tears ran down his face, “Lise, please. I know you recognize me. Please tell me why I’m here.” His voice a raspy whisper as he quoted to her, “Just like me, they long to be close to you.” He rested his forehead on her shoulder as he cried, “You have to remember. Please tell me you love me and this is all some cruel joke. Please. I love you. Please just...” One of his hands brushed where her bullet wound once was.

“Love you,” She asked, “Love me?” She shook her head and told the boy, “I don’t even know you.” She ripped herself away from him and walked out of the school. Annalise, as she started to get away, started to run out the doors. She panted once out the doors and looked up at Hannah.

Upon hearing the doors burst open, Hannah stood up. Seeing Annalise’s face, she rushed to the teenager. “Anna,” She wrapped her arms around the girl, “Are you alright?” She kissed the girl’s forehead, “Come on. Let’s get out of here and grab some soda. Just don’t tell Ulrich I did this, okay?”

Annalise slowly nodded and walked, still embraced by the pregnant woman. She turned to look at the boy staring at her. She turned to Hannah and asked, “What were you going to name your little son again?”

“Jonas,” She smiled and shook her head, “Why? Are you just trying to ground yourself with things you already know?” Hannah pet the teenager’s head lovingly. She adored having this girl around. Annalise was the one person in town that Hannah felt was truly on her side and understood her.

Annalise nodded as they put more space between her and the other world’s Jonas, “Yeah. You can say that.” Part of her, though relieved, felt sad. Her eyes squinted. There was something he said that brought her to an unfamiliar feeling. She shook her head, why… those were lyrics… why did she know that?

Charlotte walked back into the police station. She walked with Ulrich into the file room. They walked into one of the more private parts of the room to talk. He slowly approached her with a devilish smile. Knowing that look on his face, Charlotte whispered to him, “We have to stop this.”

Ulrich slowly closed the gap between them and told her, “That’s not what you were saying this morning.” He slowly pressed his lips against hers. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him.

“Ulrich,” Charlotte whispered as she pulled away from him, “Not here.”

Woller burst into the room looking for his coworkers. He watched as Ulrich jumped away from Charlotte. He shook his head, “Oh… I’m sorry.”

“What is it,” Ulrich asked as Woller tried to close the door and leave.

The man opened the door once more and explained, “Oh… Uh… The tire treads. Forty-seven cars and two trucks… In Winden alone there are 21,000 registered vehicles.”

Ulrich nodded, “Yes. What do you want me to do with that?”

“I…” Woller stuttered, “No idea…”

Charlotte nodded, “I got the power plant shift schedules. We can run a check.” She walked away from Woller. As she walked out, she called to the man who had interrupted her and her boss asking for him to follow her.

Annalise kicked a few rocks outside in the garden. Hannah started to have some cramping so Annalise had helped her into a bath. The girl also figured it would be best to go outside for some air. She stared at her phone waiting for a response from Ulrich. Annalise shook her head and sighed. She should have known. She shoved her phone into her pocket again and went to sit on the deck he had made for Hannah and him to have for when the new baby was going to arrive. Getting quickly bored, Annalise took out her phone again as she lowered herself to lay down against the wood. She tried to text Martha. She completely had forgotten the other girl had rehearsal today and that it wasn’t cancelled for the parents meeting later that night.

“From then on,” Martha said in her monologue on the stage, “I knew that nothing changes.” Jonas watched as the girl wrapped red yarn around her arm as she spoke, “That all things remain. The spinning wheel turns. Round and round, in a circle.”

Annalise heard a strange noise near her. She sat up and looked towards the sound. There in the grass not too far from where the deck stopped was Martha, yet she was so different. The girl had much shorter hair, as if chopped in a haste. There was a scar beneath her eye. Seeing this, Annalise hurried up onto her feet and ran to the other girl. She grabbed the girl’s face and studied it, “Martha! What happened?” Annalise panted in fear. Her eyes looked deeply into the other girl’s eyes.

“One fate tied to the next,” Martha continued with her practice of the play across town, “A thread, red like blood, that connects all our deeds. One that cannot unravel the knots. But they can be severed.” She finally took notice of the boy from earlier sitting in on her practice. She tried to put him out of her mind for the moment and press on, “He severed ours with the sharpest blade. And yet…”

The short haired Martha intertwined her fingers with the other girl’s hair. Her face full of sorrow and just yearning. Once her hand was fully behind Annalise’s head and tangled within her hair, Martha pulled the girl’s lips against hers. She wrapped her other arm around Annalise’s waist to keep Annalise from pushing her away too quickly.

“Something remains behind that cannot be severed. An invisible bond.”

Annalise froze at first, but slowly started to melt into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around Martha’s neck and pulled herself closer. The girl deepened her kiss with the other whom she thought was her best friend. This wasn’t exactly unexpected. There was always some sort of chemistry there between them. This only confirmed her thoughts and feelings on knowing what was going on.

“On many a night, he tugs at it,” Martha continued, “And then I wake with a start knowing that nothing ceases to be. All that remains…”

The two girls slowly pulled apart. Annalise gasped for air. The short haired Martha started to huff as they pressed their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a while with their eyes closed. Their hearts beating in sync with each other’s. There was no space between them. Nothing could pull them apart from that moment. Martha looked into the other girl’s eyes. She pulled her hands away to start up the clockwork sphere, “Please come with me.”


	2. Chapter 2

“And because their eyes and hearts were blind,” Killian continued with the play, “they were punished for their sins. Here and now.”

Mary looked down at her watch and nodded towards Noah. She pointed to her watch and said, “It’s time for us to go Noah.”

Noah nodded as he walked out to his car with the woman following behind him. She got into the driver’s seat and the man got into the back, preparing his rag.

Mary’s heart raced, but she knew. She knew she had to do this. She also knew they wouldn’t get caught. This was all part of the cycle that needed to be continued. This was the last run for them. Her and Noah. One last before she, Noah, Bartosz, and Noah’s wife were free of this disaster. Free from this sin they were wrapped up in.

“And what flew plummeted to Earth,” Killian spoke to the audience, “And what was on Earth changed its shape.” One of his hands still covered Martha’s face as he spoke outwards to the auditorium, “And revealed its grotesque face, which was nothing but blasphemy made of flesh.”

Annalise stared at Martha as they slowly dissolved into small particles of lights. Almost like the small embers let off of a bonfire. She nodded and stayed close to her friend as they dissipated. When they reappeared, Annalise’s hand squeezed her friend’s hand. She looked around to see Erit Lux. She smiled widely and gasped. It was so beautiful. She ran around the main room studying everything with so much delight. She adored this place. It was as if it were made specifically with her in mind. She turned to her friend and her eyes shined, “What is this place?”

The short haired Martha smiled for the first time in what felt like eternity. She walked to the excited girl and explained, “This is where we plot to save the world. You and I.” She wrapped her arm gently around Annalise’s waist and led her to one of the chairs. Her face slowly changed to one of serious melancholy. She knelt in front of Annalise, who was now sitting in one of the chair, and asked, “Do you trust me?”

Annalise nodded, “Of course.” Her eyes filled with admiration and care as she caressed her friend’s cheek, “What is going on and what are you going on about?” She heard the large doors at the other end of the room open and the girl turned her head. Martha stayed perfectly still knowing who was coming. Annalise’s lips trembled as she saw an older woman approach them. Annalise’s heart raced. There was a boy, man, and older gentleman following close behind her. The girl felt something inside of her telling her to run. She grabbed the other girl’s arm and stood up. Before she could get a word out, she heard the woman’s voice.

“My sweet Annalise,” Eve smiled at her, “I’m so happy to see you again. I haven’t seen you like this in many years.”

Across town, Jonas watched tearfully as Killian moved Martha’s hair and kissed her neck causing the girl to break character and giggle. She turned to her boyfriend and gave him a kiss. They had to stop there so that the parent’s meeting could start. Killian wished his girlfriend goodbye before both of their phones went off. Killian looked panicked at her and asked Martha, “Well, I haven’t heard anything from her since school ended. Have you?”

Martha shook her head, panicked, but looked through her phone. There were texts from right around the time her father claimed her best friend had gone missing. She looked up at Killian and asked, “Can you go talk to Bartosz? Find out what’s going on and if they are together?”

He nodded and said, “Let’s still meet up at the tracks at nine. Maybe she will show up there. Hopefully she’s okay.” He jogged off to try and contact his other friends.

Jonas slowly approached Martha as she hurried to pack up to go back to her childhood home to talk to her father about what was going on with her best friend. He stared at her for a moment and then spoke, “Martha.”

She turned to him annoyed and told him angrily, “I have no idea what you want from me, but I want nothing from you, okay? So get lost.” She growled then remembered Annalise’s reaction to him earlier that day then asked in a harsh whisper, “Did you have something to do with this?”

Jonas shook his head and pleaded with her, “Please listen to me. Maybe you don’t know who I am. But today is November 4, and Mikkel…” He grabbed her arm.

She shook her head and pulled away from him, “What? Mikkel?” She stared at him, “Don’t tell me you are a part of this.”

Jonas shook his head, “Michael Kahnwald? Hannah’s husband. He’s not who you think--”

“Hannah’s husband,” She interrupted him, “Are you joking?” She started to tear up and growled at him again, “I don’t know any Michael Kahnwald. Hannah’s husband is my dad and his name is Ulrich and he is looking for my best friend who went missing. So, I don’t know what your deal is, but just fuck off already, okay?” Martha stormed away from him. She was so angry. What was he playing at? What was going on? Where was her Annalise? She needed this information and soon. Her chest constricted at the thought that what happened to Erik could have happened to the girl she held secret feelings for.

Jonas stood there in confusion. He whispered to himself in contemplation, “Annalise?”

Annalise looked at the woman and tilted her head, “Excuse me? Do I know you?” She placed the taller girl behind her as if she was going to protect the bigger girl from the danger in front of them.

Eve smiled kindly, “You are just the same. You may not know me like this, but look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t know.”

Annalise walked closer and studied the woman more thoroughly. She gasped. Her hand shook as she reached over to glaze her hand over the older woman’s face. Her voice quivered as she whispered, “Martha?”

At the bunker, Magnus walked to meet up with his girlfriend. They both needed each other so much. They had arranged this meeting earlier at school while they had hid out to make out in one of the unused gym equipment rooms. He smiled to himself as he walked to go meet up with her. He opened the large metal door.

Annalise trembled as she woke up. She was surrounded by darkness and something cold was pressed near her. It smelled horribly. A smell she never would forget. The last thing she remembered was being grabbed by a large blond man and trying to scream out to Hannah for help after the short haired scarred Martha disappeared without her. She looked around. There wasn’t a lot of space where she was trapped. Slowly, her mind started to come together and her eyes adjusted to the darkness. A small boy, probably no older than Mikkel was there, blue and dead chest to chest with her. His eyes burned to a crisp leaving him unrecognizable. She gagged and covered her mouth trying to hold the food she and Hannah had just ate down. She took a deep breath and swallowed it back down as tears ran down her face. Annalise started to scream, crying out for anyone to help her. She sobbed uselessly. She continued to scream until a woman opened a slit in the door allowing light to enter the room.

“Shhh…,” Mary comforted the girl, “You’re okay. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Annalise choked on her tears as she readjusted herself to put her stomach flat against the door so that way she could talk to the woman in the slit. “Please,” the girl pleaded, “Please let me out.”

Mary shook her head, “I’m sorry. I can’t. It’s the only way for us to get our husband back.”

Annalise stared at her confused, “Our? Who are you?”

Mary smiled gently at the girl and asked, “Don’t you know?” She shook her head and said, “You have feelings for both your best friend and her ex-boyfriend. You later marry him by the way. Your first kiss was with a blond boy you’ve only met in your dreams. A dream where you got accidentally shot by him.” She watched as the teenaged girl slowly started to come to terms with what was happening. To help push her younger self closer to the answers, she whispered, “I am you. My name is Annalise Dahlheim. Everything you are experiencing, I’ve done already, but I was on the other side of it then. We have to follow this path, over and over again.”

Annalise cried, “Why did you lock me in here?”

Mary shook her head, “I didn’t. Noah did.”

“Who’s Noah,” Annalise asked desperately.

Mary shook her head, “He is someone who works for Adam.”

Annalise sobbed, “But who is Adam? Why can’t you just let me out? We, you, don’t have to do this! Please let me out.”

Mary shook her head, “I can’t, because then you won’t become what I am today. If I now change my past, I will change who I am at this very moment. Then we can’t save Bartosz and help save everyone else from destruction that Adam wants. I’m sorry. You will get the answers you want in time.” She shut the slit and allowed her own tears to fall. She pressed her back against the metal door and started to cry remembering what it was like being trapped, alone, and scared with only Mads’s dead body as company.

Elisabeth opened and closed the door to her house. Her grandfather was mumbling to himself again, “It will happen again.” He just kept repeating that one phrase over and over again. The girl looked around and called for her parents. When there was no reply, she slowly made her way to her grandfather and sat down next to him. He started to then say, “Tick Tock. Tick Tock.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. This action surprised the poor girl, causing her to gasp. Helge held her hand close and told her, “The beginning is the end. And the end is the beginning.” When Elisabeth fought away from her, Helge went back to repeating, “Tick Tock. Tick Tock.”

Jonas stumbled his way to the church. He knew if Annalise were anywhere, that’s where she would be. When he got to the graveyard, something caught his eye. There. Instead of his father’s grave, rested his best friend’s mother’s grave. He panted and looked up. He couldn’t dwell on this. He tried to think about how and why Annalise would be in the past now. Who even would have taken her there? How could she have replaced Mikkel’s place? This was all puzzling to him.

“Can I help you,” Peter’s voice snapped Jonas out of his thoughts. The pastor walked over to the strange young boy. He could tell from the look on Jonas’s face he was on a journey for something. Peter asked him, “Are you looking for something in particular?”

Jonas looked at him and then stated, “I have two things. I wanted to know if you’ve seen Annalise and if someone was buried here.”

Peter simply asked the boy, “Who?”

Jonas paused for a moment, “Kahnwald, Michael Kahnwald.”

Peter shook his head, “No. We have a Daniel Kahnwald, died in ‘64, but no Michael Kahnwald. Annalise isn’t here either.”

Jonas’s eyes furrowed and shook his head, “Maybe that’s why I’m here.” He looked around, “So it doesn’t happen.”

Peter asked the boy, “So what happens? Do I know you? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before. Are you two related?” He looked at the boy questioningly. When the boy looked at him confused, Peter explained, “You know… David’s granddaughter? Daniel’s son, David? Annalise?”

Jonas blinked and stormed past the man without an answer to his question.

Annalise walked back home replaying the conversation she had with Eve in her head. She shook her head. Was she really going to marry Bartosz, was that clef lipped boy, man, and old man really all the same person and also her and Martha’s son? How did Martha and her even have a son? Did Bartosz know about that? Was this really all to save their world against the blond boy she met only today? Was he really the same person as the old man who was obsessed with her? Why were they in love with her anyway? She eventually walked inside the house not even noticing all the cop cars outside the house. She could hear Hannah crying and Ulrich trying to comfort her as she walked in. “Hello,” Annalise called confused.

Ulrich heard the door open and close, but assumed it was another one of his officers walking in and out of the house trying to get one of Annalise’s things so that another dog could track her scent. When he heard her voice, He let go of Hannah and stood. He ran to the doorway and scooped up the girl crying. He cradled her as he hid his face into her neck, “Annalise!”

Martha ran down the stairs after hearing her father and stood behind him. She was breathing heavily staring at her friend. There she was, safe and sound. Back home. Martha’s heart raced. When Ulrich put Annalise down, Martha took his place by holding her. Martha started to cry and asked, “Where were you?”

Annalise blinked. She held her friend back and slowly ran her fingers through her friend’s long dark hair. Her chest convulsed as she slowly came to terms with what was going on. Her lips trembled as she explained, “I was just visiting Daniel’s grave. I’m fine.” She looked around at everyone’s worried faces.

Hannah waddled into the room and told the girl, “I heard you scream and were dragged into a car.”

Annalise shook her head, “Some guys from school thought it would be a fun prank. I’m sorry. I would have called, but my phone died.” She took Martha’s hand and led her up the stairs. She asked the group, “Can Martha stay? I’m a little freaked out and I’m sure everyone would feel safer if she was here with me too.”

Ulrich looked at Hannah with hope in his eyes. Hannah nodded and sighed. “Just please don’t keep us up all night you two. Martha, call your mom and update her please.”

Martha nodded as she felt herself being dragged into her old bedroom. Annalise pulled her inside the room and shut the door. The next thing Martha knew, Annalise’s lips were pressed against her own. Martha took a second to get her bearings from being pressed against her childhood door by her girl crush. She slowly allowed her eyes to close and kiss the other girl back.

Annalise clung to Martha as if a lifeline. When the taller girl wrapped her arms around the smaller girl’s waist as she allowed herself into the kiss, Annalise deepened the kiss allowing their tongues to dance. Her fingers trapped themselves in Martha’s long curly locks. Annalise could tell Martha had been drinking tea recently with the floral taste she had. It was probably Martha’s favorite that Ulrich still had in the cabinets. Martha could still taste the Coca-Cola on Annalise. It wasn’t too long before Annalise heard Martha’s phone going off. As their lips disconnected, a small bit of saliva left their tongues still connected. It eventually broke from gravity and Annalise wiped her mouth and turned away from the other girl.

Martha answered the phone, “Yeah. She came home. She said she was at the graves. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’m going to stay with her. Yeah, Dad said it was okay. I will. Okay. Bye.” She hung up and looked at Annalise. Martha pulled at her dress and rubbed her thighs together, “Are you going to tell me what this was all about?”

“Who was that,” Annalise asked first.

Martha raised her brow, “Magnus? Everyone was worried sick about you. Tell me what’s going on.”

Annalise shook her head and said, “I just…” She blushed as she figured a small lie, “I just thought I should try it. You know? I…” Annalise looked down towards the ground ashamed of herself for lying to her best friend, but what else could she do? Nothing. Martha wasn’t going to believe her.

Martha felt bad. Her heart broke seeing Annalise so ashamed. She thought that her best friend felt ashamed for just allowing her feelings to get the best of her. Especially since she shared the same feelings. The taller girl walked closer to her small friend. Martha shook her head as she lifted Annalise’s chin to look her in the eye, “It’s okay. I understand.” She giggled and asked, “Do you want to try it out more?”

Annalise blushed more. She realized that she got herself into an even worse position. The girl nodded though to keep up everything.

Martha smiled and pressed her lips gently against Annalise’s. She used her knee to open Annalise’s legs so that way they could entangle more.

The boy walked up to the Doppler house in 1987 followed by his older selves and a confused looking Annalise. The man turned towards her and said, “We have to come here first before we go to Adam’s office. You trust me, right Mom?”

Annalise swallowed and asked, “Can I stay out here? I don’t think I’m ready for this part of the job yet?”

The man smiled, “Of course you can.” He kissed her head and his other two forms did the same before going into the Doppler mansion. The boy opened the door first.

“Hello,” Bernd greeted the boy from his wheelchair, “Can I help you? You must be lost.”

The boy slowly approached the man and stared at him. He then said simply, “The master key. For the nuclear power plant.”

“Is this a joke,” the man asked.

His eyes stared straight into him, “You kept it.”

“Do you think this is funny,” Bernd asked the boy. He watched as the boy seemed to zone out for a second before going to grab an apple. The man told the boy, “If you don’t leave, I will call the police.”

The boy looked at the apple as the other two forms of himself walked in. The middle aged one hung up the phone and took out his tool. He told the man, “Nothing is in vain.” He started to get his weapon ready, “No breath. No step. No word. No pain. An everlasting Miracle of the One.” All three forms started to surround the man then the middle form choked him.

Annalise closed her eyes and cried as this happened knowing soon she was going to have to see her own body.

Aleksander handed Erik and Kilian’s father the money telling him, “You know what you have to do.”

Martha rode her bike down to the bridge with Annalise standing behind her, holding onto the girl’s shoulders. Annalise had stolen Martha’s yellow jacket and with a smile. They giggled as they slid their way down to the train tracks. Annalise smiled and asked, “Why don’t we surprise everyone else, yeah?” She scrambled her way back up, “We can see how Kilian and Bartosz react!”

Martha nodded and watched her friend go for a second. She turned, feeling a second set of eyes on her. She called out, “Kilian? Stop screwing around.” Then she saw the blond boy approach. She took a step back, “What is this?”

Annalise froze seeing Jonas there. Her heart raced. What was he doing there? Why couldn’t she move? She felt as if she were trapped in her spot by some ungodly force. Her eyes teared up as she watched them.

“I don’t want to scare you,” Jonas explained to the other girl.

Martha then asked, “Why did you say we know each other? Were you the one who took Annalise? That wasn’t fucking funny.”

Jonas shook his head, “I had nothing to do with Annalise’s disappearance. But, we do know each other. Not now, but in another time.”

Martha felt a wave of comfort. Something inside of her knew he was telling the truth. This had happened before. She looked at him with tears filling her eyes, “What does that mean?”

Jonas could tell on her face that she knew what he was talking about now, “You’ve seen this all before. The light. The forest. Me. It’s deja vu. Or a glitch in the matrix.”

Martha knew instinctively what came next. Tears fell from her eyes as she asked, “What?”

“I think I know why I’m here now,” He explained. He slowly approached Martha, “Why you came to get me. So I can change it.”

“Change what,” Martha sneered.

Franziska saw Annalise frozen and hurried to the girl. She looked towards Magnus who was wholly focused on his sister. She helped Annalise up and walked with her down. Magnus turned to his sister and asked, “Who is he?”

Jonas looked confused, “Where’s Mikkel?”

“Mikkel,” Magnus asked.

Jonas motioned and asked, “Mikkel isn’t with you?”

Annalise felt tears falling from her eyes. Something inside her screamed. An echo resonated into her head, like a faint memory of her own voice saying, ‘H-h-hello. I think my brother has gone missing in the Winden woods. We’ve been calling for him, but he won’t respond.’ She shook her head and hid her face in Franziska.

The redheaded girl turned to her friend and signed, “Are you okay?”

Annalise nodded, but continued hiding her face. Magnus asked Jonas, “Are you blind or what?”

Kilian walked up with Bartosz trailing behind him and asked, “What is he doing here?” He looked to Martha and asked, “Did you bring him along?”

Bartosz honed in on Annalise and rushed to her side. He slowly took the girl away from Franziska signing a, “Thank you.” He smiled down at Annalise and gave her a giant hug.

Jonas blinked watching how different everything, everyone was. He watched as Annalise wrapped her arms around Bartosz’s neck with a large smile. He knew that face of relief on her well. He whispered under his breath, “Annalise?”

Magnus approached the boy more and asked, “What is this? How do you know my brother?”

Jonas shook his head, “This can’t be. You took him with you. Heide, the babysitter, is sick. And he didn’t want to stay home alone so he came along.” He looked towards Annalise who was now putting Bartosz between himself and her. The boy with his best friend’s face slowly putting himself between them as well.

Magnus shook his head looking at this insane boy. He looked around then back at Jonas, “No idea what the fuck this is, but Mikkel is old enough to look after himself. Now you’d better fuck off.” When Jonas didn’t leave immediately, getting lost in the strangeness, Magnus told him, “Get lost, freak.”

Jonas took a step back and watched them leave. Magnus and Kilian howled as they walked away. Annalise smiled as she stole Bartosz’s scarf, placed it around herself, and put his arm around him as they followed the others. She howled at the moon with them. Martha stayed and stared at him a moment before turning back to follow the rest of the group.

Ulrich walked into the police building and called to Charlotte, “Charlotte? I’m going to the parents’ meeting. I can give you a ride if you’d like. I can give you Annalise’s report of what happened on the way.”

Charlotte nodded and said, “All right.” She turned to her co-workers and handed off some of the other paperwork, “Can you take it from her?”

Woller and the female officer nodded and watched as Charlotte walked away with Ulrich to his car.

Hannah walked back into the home after going grab snacks for Annalise and Martha’s sleepover to find the house completely empty and Ulrich’s jacket nicely folded on the table. She looked down and sighed.

Annalise’s sobs were so faint now. Her throat burned from lack of hydration. She was so scared. There alone with the dead Mads.

After setting the room on fire, they all surrounded the girl to give her a gentle embrace. Annalise watched as her soft innocent dead mirrored self in Adam’s world became engulfed into the hellish flickers. She turned with her sons and started to memorize the plans for the time machine. She looked up at the middle form and nodded. He turned the sphere and the group slowly dissipated into embers right when Sic Mundus Franziska and Magnus ran in. They stared as a version of their once friend disappeared.

Killian looked towards Martha and asked, “Why did he act like he knew you? Do you know him?”

Martha shook her head, “No.” She glared towards Bartosz and Annalise laughing and holding hands, “I think Annalise knows him though.”

Bartosz looked at the girl disappointed hearing Martha’s accusation. He let his hand slip away from Annalise’s and he shrugged, “Who knows.”

Annalise blinked and realized what she had to do. She danced over towards Martha and took the other girl’s hands. She led Martha to walk with her and Bartosz, “Martha is joking. I only really hang out with all of you. Where would I know him from?” She grabbed Bartosz’s hand with her free one with a giant smile.

Bartosz sighed and wrapped his scarf more around the girl’s neck so that she wouldn’t trip, “Did you know that Nostradamus predicted the world would end this year?” He smiled at Annalise causing the girl to blush as he admired his handiwork.

“What a load of crap,” Magnus rolled his eyes.

Bartosz shook his head and looked towards the rest of the group, “No. Really. The apocalypse is practically around the corner.”

Suddenly, the trapped girl felt as if blessed with new knowledge. She felt as if she knew what happened after going with Martha, but she didn’t go with Martha. She also knew how to get herself out of here. She dried her tears and started her work. She hissed as a spark flew and scared her. She needed to escape though. She needed to get back to her friends. This rudimentary time machine was just going to have to give her the basis of what she needed. She silently thanked her son for helping her get to this point. She, then, blinked. Since when did she and Martha have a son? How did that even work? She shook her head. She didn’t have time to try to explain this to herself. She had to do this and quickly.

Mary heard noises of the machine being messed with. She looked at her watch and dried her tears. She whispered to herself, “See you soon.” She walked away to go back to the Erit Lux headquarters with Noah to talk to Eve about the fact their job was done. Now it was time to allow Noah and his wife out of the cycle… For now….

Magnus chuckled and pulled Franziska close to him, “Glad I got a girlfriend with her own bunker.”

Annalise slowed to a stop hearing about the bunker. She felt weird. The girl reached to her head. What was going on?

Jonas jogged to his childhood home. He started to cry. He walked around to try and get inside.

“And you think you’ll find something here,” Bartosz asked Kilian.

Kilian nodded, “Erik sometimes spent nights here in the summer. Maybe the police overlooked something.”

Magnus smiled and chuckled, “Have you heard the story of the cave monster?”

Kilian shook his head, “Spare us the bullshit man.”

“It’s not bullshit,” Magnus defended, “Some 100 years ago, just after WWI they did experiments here.”

Bartosz chuckled as Annalise squeezed his hand. He leaned his head against hers as a way to comfort her. Martha rolled her eyes and looked at her brother to continue, “What kind of experiments?”

Suddenly they all heard a branch break. They all turned with their flashlights. Then there was a noise from inside the cave. The lights started to flicker. The teens all freaked out and started to run. Martha and Annalise stood there frozen. Annalise shook her head and blinked as Martha grabbed her, “Come on!” They both ran together before getting separated again. Martha tripped and looked around. She called out for anyone to hear her. She slowly turned, hearing her name being called. She saw herself covered in black liquid. Martha shook her head and ran back to the rest of the group.

Annalise growled as she used her teeth to strip one of the wires. Her hands were trembling. If she couldn’t make it home, her body would need to be disposed of and there would be still only one of her, but what if Ulrich or someone found her? Surely they were looking for her. She needed to get home. She jolted from an energy surge. Pain seared through her arms. She huffed as she tried to push past the numb feeling in her arms now. She couldn’t let Adam get her. No matter the cost, Adam could never get ahold of her or this body. She needed to get out.

Katharina walked into the school forcefully. She was surprised by the lights just as Hannah was. Ulrich and Charlotte’s makeout was interrupted by the birds falling. Aleksander stood by as the man helped hide the waste down into the other part of the cave. Kilian ran back to find Martha. He grabbed her hand and led her to the bunker where the rest of the group waited for her. Jonas walked into Annalise’s old room. Tears fell from the otherworlder’s eyes seeing his father sleeping peacefully as if nothing was going on around him. Jonas knew though someone was travelling. He just didn’t know who. The rest of the Dopplers looked around wondering what was happening while Magnus trapped the group into the bunker.

“Is it over,” Kilian asked, panting.

Magnus nodded, “I think so.”

There was a swirling noise as the portal sprung to life. Annalise laughed hard and happily. She did it! She figured it out! She was going home!

A rip in space opened in the bunker. Annalise slowly zoned out. Magnus panicked, “What… What is that?” They all stared intently at it as a body of a small boy crashed onto the floor and Annalise fainted into Bartosz’s arms after hearing the sound of Mads’s dead body thump onto the cement.

Everyone started to curse, but Martha jumped into action. She knelt over the boy and said, “I think he’s dead.”

“Who,” Killian asked, “Who is that?!”

Bartosz held Annalise in his arms, “Anna. Anna! Wake up! Are you okay?”

Martha opened up the boy’s jacket to reveal his name card. She lifted it up, “Mads Nielsen.”

Jonas walked out of his home and turned to look at it one last time. When he turned back to go to the caves, there was a figure of an older woman there. She told the boy, “I’ve waited for this moment for so long. For you to come back.”

Jonas cautiously approached her and asked, “Who are you?”

The woman walked forward and said, “Mikkel. He didn’t travel back. He won't become your father. And you… will never be born in this world. A world without you. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Jonas stared at her debating as she continued, “Yet, despite that, this world is doomed to the same fate as yours.” The woman walked over to him, “Everything will fall apart. In this world, just as it will in yours. Again. And again. Because of you. Because of me.” She whispered to him, “and because of Annalise.”

“Martha,” Jonas started to tear up in understanding.

Annalise stood in the mirror, she listened to Martha sleeping in the bed. She slowly removed the coat and her long sleeved shirt to reveal electrical burn marks on her. She looked up into the mirror. All of what had happened was real. She touched her hand to the mirror. She was in three places at once. Three points in space and time and now she was all together again. Tears fell from her eyes as she ran to the bathroom to throw up and cry from being trapped with a dead body of a long lost boy for hours as he decomposed. Rotting there, with only her who was rotting inside from all the death she’s seen and from the knowledge of Adam.


	3. Chapter 3

Martha walked up the cobblestone street to the Tannhaus company warehouse as the thunderstorm raged on. She peeked her head into the makeshift time machine workshop. There was the crinkling sound of electricity arcing between the three towers until it stopped. Her eyes lay upon a man gripping at the table. His sorry head was hanging in exhaustion. She slowly found her voice again and asked, “Jonas?”

The man looked up and immediately stood back from his work station. He took a step back from the girl in surprise and confusion. He breathed heavily as he slowly approached the short haired girl crying. It had been so long since he had seen her face. He looked up at her and whispered, “You’re alive.” He shook his head and whispered again, “You’re alive.” He took her face gently into his hands.

This alternate world Martha slowly took his hands in her and lowered them. “I’m not Martha,” she whispered, shaking her head, “Not your Martha.”

The man shook his head and asked, “What does that mean?”

She explained to him, “I’m here to help you find the Origin.” She explained, “The one thing that’s the beginning of everything in your world and in mine.”

Martha dreamed of that night. The night she slept with a boy who didn’t love her and also the same boy she didn’t love at all. It was a momentary weakness for both of them over the girl they both loved choosing someone who wasn’t them and the fallout their moment of weakness created. The girl sat up panting and turned to see the bearded older Jonas next to her. He did not seem amused. She got out of bed and stared at him as well.

Jonas looked down at the letter in his hand then stood up. He told the girl callously, “get dressed,” before walking out.

After she was dressed, she walked back into the warehouse to see the alternate versions of her friends. They all stared at her as if they had seen a ghost.

“Martha,” Bartosz asked, walking closer towards the girl.

Magnus shook his head in disbelief, “This can’t be. You… You’re alive.” He ran to the girl who shared the same face as his sister and held her.

“This isn’t Martha,” Jonas explained harshly.

As Magnus slowly let the girl go, Bartosz turned towards Jonas and asked, “What is this?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted between Martha and Jonas before the girl spoke up, “He’s right.” She explained, “I’m not Martha.” She looked down, “Not you’re Martha.” She looked up with gritted teeth and explained, “I promised to make everything right again. So none of it happens. So you don’t die in my world and I don’t die in yours. So that Annalise… Ulrich… Dad… Mikkel… So they all come back. So everything finally comes to an end.”

It was the 22nd of September in 1987 that Katharina found herself waking up in Jonas’s, or should she say, her son Mikkel’s room. The alarm blared waking her up. She glared at it as she got up. She turned off the alarm and stared at the picture of Mikkel with Ines on the nightstand. She listened to the call left for Ines as she rounded up her things to leave for the day. She grabbed the missing posters of Mikkel and went on her mission to try and find her son.

Tronte and Jana were having a hard time across town with their own memories and funeral for their own missing son. Jana looked at her husband and demanded, “Tell them where you were when our son disappeared.” When he refused to speak, Jana announced to the room, “When my son disappeared, he was screwing Claudia Tiedemann.” Whispers filled the room as she spoke again, “If only you’d put as much energy into finding your own son as you’re wasting on finding your mistress. Then maybe Mads would be back by now.”

Tronte looked down embarrassed and dejected. He whispered, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jana sighed and stood up. She grabbed his bag and dumped its contents onto the floor. “‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’“ She mocked at the reveal of all the newspaper clippings and photographs about Claudia lay upon the floor for everyone to see.

Tronte sighed. He hung his head as he walked out.

Claudia opened up the police station on that same day only 33 years later. She listened to the radio as it talked about the events of three months ago. She turned it off as she approached her daughter’s room. She looked at the cancer medication in her hands and walked to her daughter’s side, “How are you?”

Barely able to breath, Regina struggled out, “Momma.” She held the woman’s hand and hummed happily. When her mother released herself from her grip, Regina asked, “Are you leaving again?”

Claudia turned and explained, “I’ll be back before the sun sets.”

Across town, Elisabeth walked out of the trailer her and her father started to live in. Peter turned on his detector and started walking with his daughter to find out more if they had found his wife and older daughter yet. Another figure watched as they walked away.

Freida stood inside the tent looking through the faces. She had heard that they were walling off the area in another five days. She prayed that they would find her daughter’s body by then. By all accounts, Annalise should have been found by now. Freida turned to look at her father who was nervously pacing around. He was mumbling under his breath about this reminding him too much of the war. She held onto her father and whispered, “It’s alright, Abba. No one’s going to hurt you. You’re safe.” She pulled him close to her.

“I want to go home,” David complained looking at the wall of faces, “I keep telling you she won’t be here. Annalise is with Adam now!”

Freida turned to her father crying and yelled, “Stop Abba! This isn’t funny anymore. My husband and my child are gone! I need to find her so I can bury her next to-”

The tent opened interrupting the two.

Bartosz chuckled and asked, “You come from a parallel world?”

“One where Mikkel doesn’t disappear,” Magnus asked with his arms crossed.

Franziska asked, “I’m mute?”

“And Jonas doesn’t exist,” Bartosz added.

Martha nodded and explained, “And Annalise is in love with Bartosz.”

Bartosz let out a small chuckle feeling vindicated in his own feelings, but earning a sharp glare from the older Jonas.

Magnus continued to the main part of the conversation and asked, “Where we’re all dead because your world ends just as ours does?” Seeing Martha nod, he placed his hands on this knee and complained, “That’s bullshit. I’m not dead. I’m here.”

Jonas slowly approached the girl and let out a small growled, “How did you find us? How did you know where to find us?”

She stared up at the man and said, “Jonas told me.”

Franziska crossed her arms and called, “I thought Jonas didn’t exist in your world.”

Martha looked down and explained, “He traveled there. From your world to mine.”

Jonas stepped closer to her inspecting her. He growled, “You’re lying. I was never in your world. Did you write the letter?” When she didn’t answer, he grabbed the back of her neck violently and yelled, “What do you really want? Did Adam send you?”

Bartosz and Magnus stood up and pulled the man away from the girl.

“What did you use to travel,” He screamed as he fought against them to try to get to the girl, “I want to know what you used to travel!”

“You’re late,” a deep voice interrupted the argument, “the machines aren’t running yet.” He approached the group and stated, “You have a visitor.”

Jonas stormed out of the warehouse as the other man touched her face, “So you’re the reason for his mood being even worse today that usual.” He chuckled and explained, “Don’t let me scare you. People might say I’m not quite right in the head, but I assure you that I see more than those among us who see.”

Katharina stood in the middle of the school handing out the flyers. Everyone kept denying that they had ever seen Mikkel. She turned to give out another flyer seeing the face of the younger version of her husband. She whispered to herself, “Ulrich?”

Ulrich turned to see a blonde woman. She was older but something inside of him yelled at him that she was familiar. He asked the woman, “Do I know you?”

Her breath trembled and she held out a flyer, “Do you maybe know where this boy is?”

Ulrich took the flyer and nodded, “Maybe the madman got him after all.”

“What madman,” Katharina grabbed onto the boy.

Ulrich pulled his arm away and told her, “Don’t touch me, Typhoid Mary!”

Tronte sat in the nuclear power plant waiting for Yasmine. He confronted her and asked if she noticed anything strange. That was when he learned of the older Claudia meeting her younger self before her younger self disappeared.

Peter nodded towards Freida, “Hello. We’re sorry to interrupt.” He looked at the pair and turned to the wall of faces, “Any news?”

“No,” admitted Freida shaking her head. Tears welled up as she bit her lip, “I-I’m sorry about Franziska and Charlotte. Charlotte was such a sweet woman.”

Peter nodded, “Thank you. None of them deserved this.”

David looked at them and stated, “I’m going back to the car.” He cursed under his breath about how all of this was useless.

Freida nodded and asked the man, “Would you like us to wait for-”

“That won’t be necessary. Thank you,” Peter bowed his head. He watched as the woman nodded to him.

The woman knelt down and gave Elisabeth a sweet smile. She reached into her bag and handed Elisabeth a pack of scrunchies. She smiled and explained, “These were my daughter’s. She used them for her track meets. I think she would want you to have them.” She kissed the blonde girl’s forehead and then followed her father out.

He looked at the wall once more. He walked over to two of the medics inside of the tent. He walked over to them and explained, “We’re looking for a woman. Late 40s. Blonde and a 17 year old girl. Red hair.”

The woman medic looked at him sorrowfully, “If they aren’t on the wall, they aren’t here. I’m sorry.”

Peter slowly turned back to Elisabeth and he sighed, “This is good. If they’re not here, then…”

Elisabeth signed back, “maybe they travelled.”

Peter walked over to his daughter and held her.

Katharina stormed through the police station demanding to know about the man who had escaped from the psych ward just earlier that year. She tried to get more information, but got shot down until the man took pity on her situation. She was told about the man and how Ines and Michael were in child protective services. She found the information on the man locked in the ward for 34 years interesting. She blinked and made her way out of the station.

Tronte started to drive down the road when he spotted Regina. She was sitting there with Gretchen the dog in her hands at the bus stop. He stopped the car and asked her, “Is that your dog?”

Regina replied easily, “She was my mother’s.”

Tronte sighed and asked, “Should I give you a ride?” When she didn’t respond, he just opened the door for her. He looked at the girl as they drove down the road and chuckled, “Strange. Looks like Gretchen.”

Regina made a face and commented, “I think that’s why she kept her.” They sat awkwardly for a moment before Regina spoke up and asked, “Do you think the disappearance of Mads and my mother… that they are connected?”

Tronte shook his head and commented, “I don’t know. The week before she disappeared, did she say anything to you about an old woman?”

Regina shook her head.

“And,” he asked, “did she say anything to you about me?”

Regina shook her head again.

Tronte shook his head and admitted, “I… I just thought maybe she’d said something.”

“I...I’ll,” Regina stuttered out, “get out just up ahead and walk the rest of the way.”

Tronte nodded and pulled over, “Well, if you need anything…”

Regina exited the car and waited for him to drive away before she started to walk back home.

Claudia stared at the canisters and the machine. She picked up the microphone of the recorder and started, “My name is Claudia Tiedemann. I am one of the few survivors of the apocalypse of June 27, 2020. Almost three months have passed since the catastrophe. It’s still unclear what exactly led to the events in Winden. But the God Particle… If we can stabilize it, maybe it is a way back. Back to the past. Maybe we can save them. All of them.” She turned to see the pictures on the wall.

Peter and Elisabeth walked to the Kahnwald house to try and find supplies or bodies. He signed to his daughter, “I’ll take a look around upstairs.”

Elisabeth nodded and waited downstairs. She looked around the house. She then picked up an old picture of Hannah, Ulrich, and Katharina when she felt a presence. She turned to confirm with her full vision that there was a boy standing in the back door. He waved his hand and slowly took off his face mask and hood. He walked into the home and motioned for the word food.

His deep voice spoke slowly, “I’m looking for food. And you?”

Elisabeth took out a pencil and a notebook to write to him, “Mama and sister.”

Hanno had to take a step closer to be able to read her handwriting.

Elizabeth signed to him, “Where do you sleep?”

He wrote back, “Cave.”

Peter walked down the stairs to see the boy with his daughter, “What is this?” He stood between Hanno and his daughter and asked, “Why are you here? Have you been following us? I told you, we want nothing to do with you.”

Hanno looked from Elisabeth to Peter and stated, “You want to protect her, I know. So do I. And I will after you were killed.” He put on his face masked and left the two of them alone.

Back at the Machine Factory, the outside was storming. Bartosz used this time to knock on the Alternate World’s Martha’s door. He apologized to her and said, “I’m sorry about Jonas. Since we’ve been here… he’s… he’s been different.”

Martha looked at the boy. She felt sorry for him. The boy reminded him so much of her own world’s version of him. Well, except for the girl they both love being clung to his arm. The girl sighed and asked him, “How did you all get here?”

“We traveled,” Bartosz answered plainly, “Exactly the moment everything blew up.” He looked back at Martha and admitted, “He didn’t want to come here. It just happened. The device is empty. It’s not that easy to get nuclear fuel from the future in 1888.” He looked down again.

“And this,” Martha asked, “What is this? The workshop? The blind man? Does he know who you are? Where you come from?”

Bartosz looked around then stood. He held out his hand and said, “Come on. I need to show you something.”

The older Jonas stared at the letter in his hands and growled.

The blind Tannhaus spoke to him, “The young woman. Is she one of you? A traveler?” He sighed and then stated, “When I found you, it was a sign. A godsend. Whatever that woman means to you, don’t forget what we are going to create. Paradise. Every calamity can be reversed. Every pain, destroyed before it even comes to be. A perfect world. Sic mundus creatus est.”

Jonas sighed as he turned away from the man.

Katharina walked into the psych ward. She stared at the woman working behind the entrance. There in front of her was her own mother. She was nervous at first. Katharina slowly spoke up, “Excuse me?”

“How can I help you,” Nurse Albers spoke to Katharina.

Katharina stood in silence for a moment before slowly stammering out, “I’d like to visit someone. He’s been here for 34 years.”

Helene blinked and shook her head, “The inspector?” She stared at the woman and something in her rang a bell. She asked, “Have we met before? Somehow you look familiar to me.”

Katharina shook her head and told the woman, “He’s my husband.” Tears ran down her face.

“Oh,” Helene said, “You’re one of them. One of those women who go for madmen or prisoners because they can’t find anyone else. I’m off duty. Come back tomorrow.”

Katharina’s face fell in disgust. She then spoke to her mother, “I’ve traveled a long way. Let me see him. Please.”

Ulrich sat at his table by himself. He was staring at his chess game when Katharina sat in front of him.

“Ulrich,” She whispered to him.

When he raised his head, he was surprised to see his wife there. He spoke, “Katharina?”

The woman sat back in surprise, but then reached to hold his hands, “I’ll get you out of here.” He nodded deliberately, “I promise.”

Yasmine walked into the power plant when she saw a flash light. She walked inside of Claudia’s office to see a man standing there with some of the files in his hand. “Excuse me, what are you doing here,” she asked bravely.

As he turned, his younger self closed the door. Mary sat in one of the chairs and stared up at the woman as the older version of her son appeared.

“What do you want,” the native to Adam’s world asked the imposters, “I… I’ll call security.”

The man stated, “No. You won’t do that.” He closed the file and placed it down. He looked at her, “Yasmine? Right?” They all closed one hand over their wrist and continued, “Hell is empty. All the devils are here.” He took out his wire and slowly approached the women telling her to hush.

As the other woman dropped to the floor, Mary looked up at the group and said, “Good job David. Let’s go.” She smiled. That was not his name, not natively anyway, but Mary thought it fit him well since in some ways, The Unknown was also her son. So she could get a say into naming him as well, right? So she named him after her grandfather. Someone who Eve helped raise so that Mary could exist.

Tronte walked into his home to find his wife waiting up. He sat next to her on their sofa.

Jana told him, “At some point, you have to decide. For us. Or against us.”

“I…” Tronte started, “I saw Regina. She’s all grown up.”

Jana told him, “I’ve wondered all these years… If she… Claudia never said who the father was.”

Tronte’s brow furrowed as he commented back, “You’re right. I have to decide.” He grabbed her hand and held it.

Regina shook awake from the storm. Tronte slowly revealed himself to the woman and said, “Regina… I’m so sorry, but this has to happen.” He left go of her hand, took her pillow and started to smother her saying, “She said it’s the only way to save you.” Tronte cried as he carried out the act.

It was snowing in 2053. Charlotte stroked the picture of her family as the older Elisabeth walked to her mother and daughter’s side. They sat in silence before holding onto each other.

The older Jonas walked into Martha’s room as Mary slowly disappeared with her son back into their own world.

Bartosz and Martha slowly approached the Sic Mundus lair. He allowed the girl inside. He watched as she studied the room. When she turned to ask him what this was he responded, “This is kind of a secret lodge. Old Tannhaus is the only member left. His father was convinced he could override the rules of space and time. He dedicated his entire life to this. And so did his son.

“They tried to build a time machine,” Martha put together the pieces.

Bartosz nodded and told her, “Jonas is trying to rebuild things the way he saw them. He’s been here before. Not now. In the future.” Bartosz slowly approached her and said, “He asked you something earlier. Whether Adam has sent you. He said… He said Adam killed Martha and Annalise… Who is this Adam?”

The girl looked at him confused, “He didn’t tell you guys?” When Bartosz blankly stared at her she broke the news to the boy, “He is Adam. Jonas.”

A cry was heard within the Erit Lux lodge as Jonas sat with Eve. Jonas watched as an older Annalise rushed over towards the crib and picked the baby up.

“Oh Jonah, don’t cry my dear,” Mary cooed to the child, “My sweet baby, please don’t cry. Mommy’s home.”

Jonas felt his heart racing as he watched the woman cradling her child. He listened to her hum to the child before singing.

> _When I was young_
> 
> _I'd listen to the radio_
> 
> _Waitin' for my favorite songs_
> 
> _When they played I'd sing along_
> 
> _It made me smile._

Mary rocked the child and danced with him to help him slowly fall asleep. Her voice was just as angelic as Jonas remembered.

> _Those were such happy times_
> 
> _And not so long ago_
> 
>  _How I wondered where they'd gone_
> 
> _But they're back again_
> 
> _Just like a long lost friend_
> 
> _All the songs I loved so well._

Eve seemed to be smiling watching the mother and her son. The older woman starting to hum along with the song as if she knew it by heart as well.

> _Every Sha-la-la-la_
> 
> _Every Wo-o-wo-o_
> 
> _Still shines_
> 
> _Every shing-a-ling-a-ling_
> 
> _That they're startin' to sing's_
> 
> _So fine._

Mary’s voice became hushed as if she were whispering to her son. Jonas wanted to go to her and help, but he watched as an older Bartosz walked over to her and kissed her temple.

> _When they get to the part_
> 
> _Where he's breakin' her heart_
> 
> _It can really make me cry_
> 
> _Just like before_
> 
> _It's yesterday once more._

The baby’s eyes had slowly closed and he started to sleep once again. Jonas watched teary eyed as the couple kissed the baby’s head and slowly walked away. They treated him and Eve almost like ghosts.

Eve turned towards Jonas and stated, “We don’t know our end. But our end knows us. Salvation or damnation. We can indulge in the illusion of free will, but we cannot escape our ultimate destiny.” She stood and walked to the family tree on her floor.

Jonas stood and followed her.

“The choices we make in this world may be different,” Eve explained, “but nevertheless, they converge on the same moment. Things may not happen in the same way, or at the same time. But they happen. You believed a world without you would be a better one.” She turned towards him and said, “But they will all die. Mikkel. Mikkel will die. Everyone will die. The apocalypse takes place in my world just as it does in yours. But in mine, that’s in just three days.”


	4. Chapter 4

“From then on, I knew that nothing changes,” the man explained to his son as their carriage went through the Winden woods, “That all things remain. The spinning wheel turns, round and round, in a circle. One fate tied to the next. A thread, red like blood, that connects all our deeds.” The man closed the book and explained to his son, “Ariadae. That was your mother’s favorite play. She surely would have liked to come with us tonight, in the company of such a distinguished young man.” He opened up his watch to see an engraving, “For Charlotte” inside.

His blind son spoke, “Why do we die?”

“The dead are never truly dead,” his father explained, “Maybe they’re not here, now. But everything that once lived, lives on forever. In the eternity of time.”

The old man sat remembering this memory of his father when his carriage stopped. He panicked as he heard his coachmen start to speak to someone. He hid his money away as he held close his mother’s favorite play. As the footsteps approached he asked, “Who is there? Who are you?”

“He who has eyes to see,” The Unknown spoke, “and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret, because if his lips are silent,he chatters with his fingertips. Betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

“I…” The old man spoke, “I don’t understand.”

The middle part of the Unknown nodded, “Oh, but you do. You’re going into town to draft a telegram. Because you want to tell the world about us. Are you not?”

The man started to panic, “You’re one of them. A traveler. All those years.” As the man rambled, the Unknown started to take out his wire, “they said my father was insane. But now they are here. The travelers from the future. The world must know that they exist.”

The Unknown shook his head, “What we know… is a drop. What we don’t know is an ocean.” He slowly leaned forward to eand the man’s life.

Eve spoke to Jonas, “The mistake in all of our thinking is that we each believe ourselves to be an independent entity. One self… besides countless other selves.” When Jonas turned to her, she continued, “While, in reality, we’re all just fractions of an infinite whole.”

“What is this place,” Jonas asked Eve, “A copy of my world?”

Eve strolled over to him and asked, “Do you remember what you said to me? Under the bridge? The light. The forest. You. Me.”

“A glitch in the matrix,” Jonas responded. He stared to glare at her and asked, “Why am I here?”

Eve studied him then looked up at the painting, “You and I. Adam and Eve. That’s what we are. A glitch in the matrix. You want to know why you’re here? To save them. Your world and mine.”

“Last night, Kilian Obendorf, Bartosz Tiedemann, Annalise Dahlheim also known as Annalise Kahnwald, and Franziska Doppler, along with Magnus and Martha Nielsen, found an as-yet-unidentified boy’s body on the Doppler property by the forest road. His clothes and the Walkman are from the 1980s,” Ulrich explained with tears in his eyes, “We also found… an ID card on the body.” His eyes shifted to look at the evidence box. Ulrich started to sob and Charlotte walked over to him to give him a hug.

Charlotte turned to Woller and asked, “Woller, may you continue?” She turned to Ulrich and whispered, “Can I talk to you for a second?” Ulrich looked up and followed the woman into the file room. She turned to the defeated man and said, “You don’t have to do this. Woller can do the briefings. I can go to forensics. Go home.”

“I’ve spent 33 years looking for my brother,” Ulrich spoke up against the woman, “Those are his belongings. Those are Mads’ belongings.” He took a deep breath and said, “Someone… Someone kept them all. And then put them on the boy in the bunker. Thirty-three years later.”

Charlotte’s brow furrowed. She asked, “You think it was the same killer? That it’s all connected. Mads, Erik, the boy in the bunker?”

Ulrich looked at her and asked, “Do you know why I joined the police? When my brother disappeared… they made pretty much every mistake you could imagine. The detective was a drunken moron. And me? I swore I’d do it all differently. That I’d do everything right. That was 33 years ago. And what do I do? My marriage is ruined and now I’m cheating on the woman I cheated on my wife with.” Ulrich sighed as Charlotte touched his face, “I can’t do this anymore.” He allowed her to remove her hand and he walked out of the office.

Jonas looked up to see Bartosz strutting in with Martha slowly approaching behind him. Jonas stormed to Bartosz and demanded, “Where were you?” His eyes turned towards Martha and turned back to Bartosz to ask, “What did she tell you?”

“We’ve been stuck here for weeks,” Bartosz responded to the man, “The fucking device is empty. You have no idea how any of this works. All you did was lie! You knew what would happen, and you told us NOTHING!”

Jonas growled, “Don’t you realize she’s just using you?” He motioned towards the girl and spoke, “That isn’t Martha. She’s dead.” His heart ached at his memories, “No one returns from the dead.”

Magnus spoke up and said, “Whoever she is… she may be our only chance to get out of here.”

Bartosz grit his teeth then asked Jonas, “Why don’t you tell us the truth?” When Jonas didn’t say anything, Bartosz stepped closer and growled, “Tell them who really killed Annalise and Martha.”

Jonas’s eyes flinted to Martha then down after hearing Bartosz. He sidestepped and started his way out of the warehouse. Bartosz growled and waited for a moment before going and chasing him outside.

“Bartosz! Wait,” Magnus called as he and Franziska chased after him.

The rain fell as Jonas walked outside. He silently thanked the God forsaken town for complying with his emotions before he heard Bartosz screaming behind him.

“Tell them,” Bartosz demanded. He growled as he pushed the man over, “Tell them who Adam really is!” The two rolled around fighting just as they did 34 years ago before Magnus and Franziska pulled them apart. Magnus held Bartosz back as he screamed at everyone, “I told you all along! Jonas is to blame for everything!” He fought Magnus off and stood away from everyone as he cried, “It’s him. He’s Adam!” When Magnus looked at him in disbelief, Bartosz screamed through his tears once more, “He’s Adam! Adam wasn’t even the one who killed Annalise! It was just him proper! He killed both of them!” He stormed away from the group after asking Jonas, “Couldn’t have both so killed them both? Huh?”

Jonas and Magnus tried to catch their breaths and exchanged a look.

Eve, at the same time in another universe, told Jonas, “In all of that, didn’t you ever wonder, why you can’t let go of them, of her? You knew, you know it’s impossible. Yet still, you can’t let it go.” When Jonas turned to her with tear filled eyes, she continued, “An invisible bond that binds you for eternity. Adam tried to sever it. But that’s impossible.” She took out a silver tree of life necklace and showed it to him, “You gave this to me.”

Jonas took out his Annalise’s necklace and rubbed his dirt covered fingers over it, cleaning the blood off of it.

“You and I,” Eve continued, “Black and white. Light and shadow. We are bound together for eternity in this eternally repeating deja vu.”

Jonas whispered, “What is all this? What do you want?” His voice started to get louder, “Why don’t you just tell me why I’m actually here?”

“You’ve seen what you’ll do,” Eve tried to reason with him, “What Adam will do. If you want to save your Annalise, you have to choose the side of light. And you have to make me what I am today.”

Jonas slowly approached her, “I have to? I don’t have to do anything anymore. I’m sick to death of always having to do things!”

“Then ask yourself,” Eve responded, “what you want.” Watching his face change she asked, “Do you want her to live?”

Annalise awoke, yet she was still face to face with Mads. She screamed and started to cry again. She kicked the small enclosure entrapping her with the dead boy. She heard a very familiar voice call her name. Then Mads slowly turned to Mikkel then to her father. After that, Annalise found herself listening to her father’s voice message and words flowed out of her mouth without consent, “I just called to let you know I had my first kiss today.” Her tears choked her as her voice continued against her will, “I wish you could have met him Dad. His name is Adam and he reminds me so much of you and mom. You would love him just as much as I’ve fallen for him.” As she looked out the window, her vision faded to black. Her throat feeling like it was being filled with water again. When Annalise tried to scream, she found herself in something like a mirror of Martha’s room. Annalise turned and saw a blond boy there laying next to her, fast asleep. He seemed so familiar. Her hand shakely reached out and his name spilled from her lips without knowing, “Jonas?”

Right when the boy was about to turn, Annalise shot up in her bed in Ulrich’s house. Her breath shaking from terror and crying. She turned towards her phone to see Bartosz had tried to call her. There was a text there saying, ‘If you need to talk, let me know.’

Hannah burst into the room, “Annalise!” She quickly waddled to the girl and held her closely as the teenager started to scream, “Shhhh… It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here.” Hannah kissed the girl’s head as she rocked with her, “I’m here.” As she rocked the girl, her eyes started to trace the electrical burn scars on the teenager, yet she said nothing.

Martha stared up at the ceiling in her room. After finding the body last night, it was the last straw and Katharina forced her to come back home to be with her family instead of staying the night with Annalise. When Ulrich was finally able to come home that night, he drove his daughter back to his ex-wife. She sighed remembering that argument and the one before it where Hannah, her, and her mother argued about where Martha should be with as Annalise stood there just zoning out repeatedly and mumbling to herself some physics equations. Katharina had only conceded from seeing Annalise and knowing that the girl probably needed someone. So she made the condition that once Ulrich was back home, he was to bring Martha back. She heard the doorbell ring and sighed as she got out of bed. When she answered the door, there in front of her was Ulrich. “Dad,” she asked in disbelief.

“Can I come inside,” he asked his daughter.

Martha sighed and begrudgingly allowed the man inside. They stood in front of the staircase.

Ulrich asked, “Is Magnus here too?”

Martha studied her father trying to get a read on him, “I think he’s still sleeping.”

Ulrich nodded and told the girl, “You have to tell me the truth. What really happened in the bunker?” When his daughter looked at him again in disbelief, he continued, “What did you see?”

“I did tell the truth,” Martha said, “we went in and the bunker was empty. There was nobody there! Then there was a light. And then this...this body fell down. Annalise fainted at the sight of it.”

“Had you taken anything,” Ulrich asked accusingly.

“What,” Martha questioned him.

As Magnus walked down the stairs, Ulrich asked again, “Did that Kilian kid give you anything?” Magnus just finished walking down the stairs when Ulrich turned to him and asked, “Come on, what did you take?”

“What is this shit,” Magnus sneered at this father, “Are you playing worried father now? Why don’t you ask your precious new daughter?” Martha looked at her brother and shook her head, yet he continued, “You usually don’t give a shit about us!”

Martha crossed her arms and shrugged, “It’s just as we told you. There was this noise...It came from the caves...or the ground,...or… I don’t know. We went to the bunker. At first there was nothing there, then...he...he was just lying there.”

Ulrich turned away and stared out into the dining room calculating what was going on.

“Is that all,” Magnus growled at his father. When his father turned to look at him again, Magnus replied, “Mom will be back any moment. You’d better go. But it was nice of you to drop by to see how we’re doing.” When Ulrich reached up to caress him, Magnus took a step back.

Hannah walked through the halls of the police station with a tray of brownies. When she was greeted by Woller and Charlotte, she asked, “Is Ulrich here? I’ve been trying to reach him all morning. Annalise is having nightmares and just woke up finally.”

Charlotte shook her head and said, “I thought he went home.”

Hannah studied the woman for a second. Her mind started to wonder. “You look so different,” commented the woman, “Did you get a haircut?”

Charlotte shook her head, “No.”

Hannah looked her up and down. She laughed, then hugged the woman. She took her smell in deeply. She pulled away and waited a moment before saying, “It’s nice to see you. I’ll just put this in his office.”

Charlotte turned and watched her go.

Hannah closed the door behind her and walked to place the container on his desk. She looked up as she realized who it was that Ulrich was cheating on her with. She left as the pictures of his children, Annalise with Martha, and herself with him burned their place on his desk.

Annalise sat there staring at the wall. Her brain running six different directions just trying to figure everything out. She ran her fingers through her hair as she screamed. She yelled and closed her eyes. Everything that happened kept running in her head. Her dreams danced in her head. She felt empty. There was a pulling inside of her. She ran out to the woods and screamed again. It felt as if someone was tugging at a string within her. Plucking at it, like a chord of a guitar.

“Can we talk,” Martha asked her brother as she walked in.

Magnus rolled his eyes, “Get lost.” He assumed she was going to scold him about what he said about Annalise.

Martha, instead, walked in and sat next to Magnus, “Last night…in the forest... Did you see anything else?”

“No,” Magnus told her, “Like what?”

Martha turned away from her brother and asked, “Do you sometimes feel like you’re losing your mind? That nothing makes sense anymore?” She sighed and commented, “Maybe… Dad is right.” When Magnus looked at her confused, she said, “Maybe he was already lying there.” She shrugged and said, “And...we…”

Magnus stared at her and stated, “I know what I saw.” Martha and he sat quietly for a minute before she stood up and walked to his window. “Where are you going,” he asked.

“Don’t tell Mom,” Martha replied, “I’ll be back for dinner.” She opened the window and left.

“Everything repeats itself,” Eve told Jonas, “Again and again for all eternity. Because none of us is prepared to let go.” She lifted up a light and walked over to Jonas, “It took me a long time to understand that. That you can’t let go of your past. That you will always choose her, always choose your Annalise.” She nodded and told him, “And just as you can’t let go of your past, I’ve spent my life clinging to mine.” She made a face then told him, “You trusted Adam. But where did that lead you?” She walked to Jonas and said, “You have to show her, Martha, how everything is connected. You don’t have much time left. She has to see her future in order to understand what must be done.” She handed him the lantern and spoke, “She will follow you. She is bound to your fate, just as you are to hers.”

Jonas grabbed it from her and turned away. He looked at Eve and wondered if she knew what he was thinking. He walked out of the office determined to find Annalise before trying to go forward with Eve’s plan.

In Adam’s world, Martha looked down at the necklace in her hand. She quickly hid it after hearing a knock on the door. She pushed herself closer towards the window as she looked to see who was coming in.

Jonas opened the door and closed it behind him. He stood in the middle of the room and said, “You said I was in your world. With you. Why can’t I remember it?”

“I don’t know,” Martha told the man, “That letter… I didn’t write it.” She slowly approached him and said, “You have to believe me.” As he turned away, she spoke again, “Sic Mundus, what is it?”

Jonas sighed, “Old Tannhaus’ father… tried to bring someone back from the dead. His wife. He was convinced that the ability to time-travel would be the world’s salvation. Every mistake could be prevented before it even occurs. But it doesn’t bring salvation. Only Damnation.”

Martha took a deep breath and growled, “They’re all dead. In my world. I can’t help hoping I can change that.” He glared at her as he tried to walk away, but the girl grabbed him, “I know you think you can’t trust me. I want to prove to you that you can.” She brought him out into the woods and unburied her ball to show him the device she used to get there.”

“This is what you used to travel,” He asked.

Martha nodded at him. She undid a dial and took out a small dark ball, “this is the last one I have.” She held it out to him, “It’s the only way I can go back again.”

Jonas sighed as he took it from her.

Eve sat in her office waiting for her son and Mary. The Unknown walked in with all materials he had grabbed for her.

The Unknown told his birth mother, “You could have told him which path you’re sending him down. How it will end.”

Eve shrugged as she explained, “He will never stop trying to break this cycle. He’ll never understand that we must preserve the knot. That his Annalise must die. So all the others can live.”

She stared at her son as she opened the leather planner, “The beginning and the end.”

Jonas walked out of the cave and through the woods. He heard sobbing and screaming he only knew as Annalise and ran towards it.

Charlotte walked to the bunker and called Ulrich. She asked him to call her back as she approached the door. She opened it up and walked inside. She stared at the chalk outline and started to investigate. When she knelt down, under a bench she found a penny with a red string around it as if like a necklace.

On the other side of town, Helge sat repeating to himself, “Tick tock. Tick tock.” He looked up and started to walk out of the house to try to stop it.

Bartosz exited Mary’s car. He sighed and looked towards the power plant. As his eyes scanned, he noticed a figure stumbling across the street. Normally he wouldn’t think anything of it, but it looked very familiar. The beating of his heart echoed in his ears when he realized just who it was. He jogged across the street and called, “Anna.”

Jonas was just about to interrupt the girl’s drinking when he heard Bartosz’s voice. The boy had been following her for a while, but he didn’t know how to approach her, so instead he just decided to watch her from afar. He slunked back into the shadows right out of sight of the two. His heart raced. He knew what was going to happen.

Annalise took another large drink of her mixed drink a very kind older man had given her. She smiled gently. It reminded her of the drinks she heard about back home. Fruit punch, Red Bull, vodka mixed in the right fashion still only seemed like fruit punch. He had given her a large bottle just with a few bucks and for “looking cute.” She drank as she made her way to the bus stop out of Winden. The burning sensation masking her brain being torn apart at the seams.

Bartosz easily caught up to the girl and grabbed her arm, “Anna! What are you doing, idiot?!” He kept a firm grip on her. Frustration rose into his chest. Where did she even get what she was drinking? Where was she going? Shouldn’t she be with Martha or nearly anyone else? She never went anywhere alone.

“I’m going home,” she answered simply, “Now please let me go.” She tried to jerk away.

He shook his head, “What are you drinking? Your place is that way.” He gestured with his shoulder towards where she lived with Ulrich and Hannah. He stared at the girl floundering to get away from him. His heart started to ache. More than that. He was angry. Furious even. Filled to the brim with an anger he had never known before.

Annalise started to cry as she tried to tear away from his grip, “Let me go!” She started to yell at him. Tears built up pressure behind her eyes as she remembered back to what had driven her to this point. How she wished for the rain to finally start in this God abandoned town. The wind howled as it shook the trees awake. At least, she reasoned, that was on her side. “Let me go Bartosz,” she repeated screaming at him with the full force she wanted to let out at everyone.

Jonas felt powerless. Here he was watching a mirror of what happened that night. His throat dried up. His heart started to ache. It was being tugged in so many directions. Jonas wanted to interrupt. He wanted to run, yet his feet stayed firmly rooted in the ground. It was as if the Knot wanted him to see this. It was its punishment for him kissing Martha that night. It was punishment for taking Lise for granted.

“No!” Bartosz roared back at her. He pulled her into his arms. His heart raced. He just wanted her to calm down. He knew instantly then that he loved her. All this time was just him lying to himself trying to keep the status quo and hoping things were going to go back to the way they were before his mother died. He wrapped himself around her. Was she always this tiny, he wondered. It was his first time ever fully embracing her. He had to bend down a bit to bury his face into her shoulder and neck. Oh, how it felt nice to finally hold someone, to hold her, in his arms, but he couldn’t dwell on his own happiness. He needed her to be happy. He thirst to see her smiling and laughing again. That happy radiant infectious smile that he loved seeing across her face.

Annalise beat her fists into the taller boy as the tears fell from her eyes. She continued to scream at him to let her go. The girl struggled as he just held her in an embrace. Her breathing was off. The thumping his chest made as she hit it reminded her how her heart felt when they saw the boy just drop in the bunker like that. She just wanted to go back home but she could never tell him that. Annalise hated every moment of this. She hated every moment of Winden. She just wanted to go back in time to right before they saw that moment and never see that poor dead boy just drop...Before she agreed to help that short haired Martha... Before she was trapped with that dead boy...

Bartosz pulled his face away. There was something he had heard Magnus mention before while Mikkel was throwing a tantrum. He needed to distract her from her emotions so that Annalise could actually TELL him what was going on. He sighed knowing he was going to hate himself later for indulging the part of him that loved her without ever telling her that, but he had to do it. With one hand, he trapped her wrists from continuing to beat into his chest. The other he used to grab the back of her head. Bartosz pressed his lips against hers.

The girl froze. His lips were so desperate. She could feel his yearning for her to stop and think about what she was doing. She didn’t pull away. Instead, she allowed herself to kiss him back. There was a saltiness to it, yet tender and warm. Soon, she felt her wrists freed from his grip. She just gently rested her hands against the boy’s chest as his now unoccupied hand found a new home at the small of her back. Annalise’s heart fluttered. She felt as if drunk, longing for love, and finally acquired a bit of that feeling of being wanted.

Bartosz pulled her closer. He clinged to her as they slowly deepened their kiss. They both wanted this for such a long time. He sighed happily as her arms slowly started to snake their way off his chest to around his neck to play with his long hair. He let one of his arms slide under her so that he could scoop her up while they were still making out. He lifted her up into his arms and walked over to the bus stop so that the side of it could be used to stabilize the couple. He pressed her back against it as he could feel the both of them getting weak from the lack of breath and their hearts racing quickly.

The hidden boy’s heart shattered as it fell to the cement. He wondered how much of this was like that night and how much wasn’t. Jonas could see how much heat and longing was between the other two teenagers. They were so desperate for the other one to be close to them that the rest of the world didn’t exist. He didn’t exist. He wasn’t supposed to exist.

Bartosz eventually pulled away gently. Annalise reached up and pressed his forehead against hers. Her eyes closed as the last of her tears drained from her. He calmed himself and asked, “Anna, what’s wrong?” He gently brushed her wild hair from her face, unstuck some strands stuck around her eyes from her tears, and put it in a place not easy to get stuck there again.

Her face contorted in agony. The fountain of sorrow slowly turned back on. Something about this moment felt as if something similar had happened before. It felt as if she, him, the moment, it was all supposed to happen. “I,” she started. She took a breath and then confessed, “I am so scared. What does this all mean Bartosz? There is so much going on in the world now and I’m scared. I don’t know what I’m… I don’t know what role we play in this...” She choked on her words and started to cough.

Bartosz cooed at her and held her close once more, “I know. I know. It’s okay.” He swallowed hard and rocked with her. Bartosz gently kissed her head every so often as he just kept her safe within his arms. The boy just repeated that it was okay, that he was there with her, he wasn’t going to leave her, that everything was going to be okay until he could feel her body start to go limp. She must have been exhausted, he figured. He lifted her up and tried to figure out how to manage her with a bike. In the end, he called his father to come pick them up. He took off the jacket his mother had gifted him and put it on the girl as they waited.

Jonas turned finally unstuck from the Knot. He tracked his way back to where he knew he had to be, with this world’s Martha and to try and fix this world so that his could be fixed and he could go back home to his Lise. Be in her arms once more where she clung to him like that. Where she loved him, when she loved him. Not seeing some stranger with her face loving the boy that shared the same face as his best friend back home.

Martha walked over to Kilian’s trailer and knocked on the door. She stood back for him and spoke, “Hey.”

He responded back, “Hey.”

Martha stood there staring at him.

“What are you doing here,” He asked the girl.

Martha shook her head, “You weren’t at the dorm. I was worried.”

Kilian grabbed her arm and walked with her away from the trailer, “They kicked me out. Your father called. He wanted to know if I slipped you guys something.”

“Did you,” She asked.

“Fuck no,” He gowled, “No, I didn’t.” He shook his head, “But sure, none of you can get it out of your system. I haven’t lived here for two years, but I’m still the trailer park trash everyone points fingers at.” When Martha didn’t respond, he sneered, “I knew it.”

“What did you know,” she asked him.

He shook his head and said, “That you were only with me to rile up your parents. You didn’t give a shit about me or Erik.”

Martha scoffed at him. If she really wanted to do that, she would have just dated Annalise. She turned her head back towards him. She wasn’t really able to fight back though. Maybe she really was and he was just the safe option.

Kilian turned away and told her, “You’d better go.”

Martha fought back her tears as she whispered, “Okay.”

The boy turned and walked away leaving her alone in the park with Jonas there watching.

“About Regina…” Hannah spoke to Aleksader, “I’m sorry. It must be very difficult for you.” She paused, then asked, “How are you? Bartosz?”

Aleksander nodded and told her, “We’re managing.” He turned towards the pictures on his desk and stared at them.

“I…” Hannah spoke, “I hear that Annalise and Bartosz really like each other.”

Aleksander nodded, “My son speaks of her pretty often. Please, tell me why you are here.”

Hannah shifted awkwardly and got to the point, “I’d like to propose a deal.”

“A deal,” he questioned the woman.

Hannah looked down at her purse, “I have something that belongs to you. I’d like to return it.” She carefully pulled out the bag from 1986 and slid it towards him. As his face changed she asked, “Do you recognize it? Don’t worry. The contents are in a safe place.”

Aleksander asked quivering, “What do you want? Do you want money?”

“I don’t want money,” Hannah told him, “I want you to destroy Charlotte. I want her to lose everything. Everything.”

Charlotte drove to the church meeting her husband who was talking to a man inside. When she walked in, Peter stood up.

“Charlotte,” Peter asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Thank you,” The man told the pastor before leaving.

Charlotte slowly approached the man and said, “I tried to get a hold of you. I went to the bunker. Why aren’t you home with Franziska?”

Peter shrugged, “I…”

Charlotte shrugged it off and asked, “Last night, where was Helge? You said you ate dinner with him. Where was he afterwards?”

“What is this,” Peter asked her.

“In 1987, when you came to Winden, did your father still live in the cabin,” she asked the man.

Peter shook his head, “I don’t understand.”

“Did he or didn’t he,” Charlotte pressed on.

“No,” Peter shook his head, “After the accident he was moved into the nursing home.”

“And the summer before, in 86,” she asked.

Peter nodded, “I think so. Why do you want to know?”

“Did he use the bunker for anything?”

“Charlotte,” Peter approached her, “What do you want from me?”

She pulled the penny from out her jacket and showed it to him, “This is Helge’s. I found it in the bunker.”

Peter huffed and shook his head, “That...That can’t be. He was with us all night.” He answered his phone to hear that Helge had left the nursing home. He turned to her and said, “Helge’s at the police station and he made a confession.”

Annalise started to stir as she felt the atmosphere around her change. She was warm and cuddling something soft. This was very pleasant compared to last night and how horribly she slept then. She hummed happily, slowly waking up. She could hear a man and a very familiar boy’s voice talking.

Aleksander looked at his son in the rear view mirror with the girl snuggled up to him. “So,” he started to ask, “Is this the girl?”

Bartosz’s face flushed, “What do you mean?” He asked nervously. He started to awkwardly chuckle, “I mean, it’s just Annalise, Dad. You two have met before.”

“Have I,” Aleksander teased, “I don’t remember you telling me you liked her this much.” He chuckled, “You know I was around your age when I met your mom right?”

Bartosz thanked God that Annalise was asleep and couldn’t hear his father embarrassing him, or so he thought. Bartosz groaned, “You don’t have to embarrass me in front of her do you?”

Aleksander chuckled, “I thought she was asleep.”

“Still,” Bartosz complained. He looked over to the girl cuddled up to his side once more. A small smile graced his lips as he moved some of the hair from her face again. He couldn’t complain too much. The thought of her being like this with any other person ate him inside. So somewhere deep inside he knew that if they were together forever, that he would be happy.

When Peter and Charlotte reached the station, Peter asked his father, “Dad, why are you saying this? It makes no sense at all.” He turned to Woller and explained, “He didn’t leave the house. I was with him all night. Elisabeth was there too.”

Helge spoke again, “I killed the boy.”

“Dad,” Peter scolded the man, “Cut it out!”

Charlotte spoke up, “His things… The walkman. The clothes. Those are Mads Nielsen’s things, the boy who disappeared in 1986. Do you remember that?”

“I killed him,” Helge repeated.

“Who,” she asked, “Mads?”

Ulrich stormed into the station. He turned towards Helge and asked, “Where did you get his stuff?” The man rushed forward and grabbed onto the man despite Peter’s yells in protest, “What did you do to Mads?” He yelled at the older man, “What did you do to him?!”

“You’re alive,” Helge asked, staring at the man.

“What,” Ulrich asked.

Helge spoke, “It was you.”

“What was me,” Ulrich asked, pulling the man out of the chair as the other officers tried to pull Ulrich away from Helge.

“It was him,” Helge spoke, “It was him.” Helge held up the penny in his own things.

Charlotte looked down and unfolded her napkin to see the penny she had was still in her possession. It was the same coin, yet… two places at the same time.

Martha walked in the woods alone. She was determined to try and get to Annalise to talk to her when she heard a rustle in the bushes. When Jonas revealed himself from the shadows, she asked him, “What is this? Are you following me? Why won’t you tell me how we know each other? How you know Annalise?”

“Actually,” Jonas spoke, “You and I, we’ve always known each other.” When Martha swallowed, Jonas approached her, “When Magnus knocked your tooth out in kindergarten… I was there. When Mikkel put spiders in your shoes while camping in the yard… On the third grade class trip… when you were so homesick that Katharina had to come get you. You met Annalise and she told you how your father scared her because she didn’t know German really well to cheer you up on your first day back to school.” He whispered, “Where I come from, you and I share a past.”

Martha shook her head, “You’re nuts.” She turned to walk away from him.

“Last night,” Jonas told her, “in the forest. You saw yourself.” He shook his head and said, “I know how completely insane this all sounds. For the longest time, I too thought it was all totally crazy. That I was crazy.”

“Who are you really,” She asked the boy.

“I can show you,” Jonas explained, “How it’s all connected.”

It wasn’t long before they reached the Tiedemann abode. Annalise knew it was wrong to still pretend she was fully asleep, but when Bartosz scooped her up into his arms to carry her, she didn’t want it to stop. She listened as he mumbled to himself.

Bartosz debated on where to put Annalise, “I could put her in the guest bedroom. But that’s halfway across the house and what if she needs me? I am not going to put her on the couch. I know that much. But… My bedroom… would she be weirded out by that? Would-” He felt her move. He nearly dropped her from surprise. He panicked pulling her closer to him once more. He asked the girl, “Annalise?”

Annalise’s smile couldn’t contain itself any longer hearing his verbal debate. She let out a small giggle surprising the boy. She squealed as she felt herself drop for a moment before he grabbed her once again. The girl clung onto him. She turned to face him once more, “Yes?”

“How long have you been awake,” He asked, walking her into his room and gently placing her on his bed.

Annalise smiled and sat up. Still a little buzzed, she asked, “Do you really want to know?” She looked around his room. It was different. His room was full of dark colors and scattered books, diagrams, and hastily scribbled notes. There was an attached bathroom that seemed nice and light though. Yet still it felt like an empty shell. She yawned and turned to him as he helped remove his coat from her. Her voice strained as she looked at him beggingly, “Stay?”

In the other world, Jonas placed the ball into a large bowl. He walked to the control panel and started up the machine. He stared intently at it as the liquid slowly arose up and formed a ball. Sadly it was not enough energy to hold it.

After it dropped, the group converged on the bowl to investigate. Sensing someone was missing, Franziska looked up and around. After accounting for who was there, she asked, “Where’s Martha?”

The group all looked up to find the girl missing. Jonas, then, knew, she had lied to him.

Martha rushed back to her room and placed a new ball into her sphere and set it to go to her new objective.

The group walked into the bedroom just as she disappeared. Jonas turned to Bartosz and glared at him as if to say, ‘I told you.’

In the other world, Bartosz blushed and took a step back. He blinked wondering if he really heard what she had asked. He dropped the coat in his hands. He shook his head and bent down to pick it up. While he wasn’t staring at her, he asked, “Stay?” He slowly looked up to try and gauge her reaction.

Annalise nodded, “Please?” She grabbed one of his hands and pulled him towards the bed.

Breathless, Bartosz struggled out, “Wait. Just…” He held up the coat once more and slid his hand away so that he could go and put up his coat. His heart raced. He tried to calm himself as his back was turned to her. The boy knew his father wouldn’t care so he couldn’t use that as an excuse. He was shaking with nervousness. He really wished his mom was here so that she could help him with this. Annalise’s small voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“Bartosz,” Annalise asked. When he turned his head, she blushed and asked, “Can I have some water?”

Bartosz nodded quickly and rushed out of the room closing the door behind him.

Martha followed Jonas to the cave. Right before she walked into it, she got a text from Annalise and Bartosz. The one from Annalise was her asking if Martha was okay and that Kilian had texted her to tell her what had happened. The text from Bartosz consisted of, ‘Annalise is staying over. Help?’ She shook her head and stared at Jonas.

Jonas looked at her and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Martha nodded, “Yeah.” She hid her heart breaking from the boy and started to follow behind him into the cave.

Helge stared at his hands as he sat in a cell.

Martha and Jonas continued through the caves as Charlotte turned away from Ulrich sitting sadly at his desk staring at the picture of him and Hannah.

Hannah walked into her and Ulrich’s bedroom to see the bed perfectly made up and her husband not there. She turned and walked out the door just as Jonas and Martha approached their door.

Eve looked down in her hand to look at Jonas’s Annalise’s necklace and then looked up at the pictures of Adam and Eve.

Bartosz walked to the kitchen and grabbed her bottled water. On his way back, he saw his dad.

Aleksander could read Bartosz’s hesitation all over his face. He chuckled and sat on one of the bar stools. “Something the matter,” He teased.

Bartosz jumped, “No. No. Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s good.” He blushed and tried to stand up taller to seem more confident. He ran his fingers through his hair, “What would be wrong? Everything is perfect.”

Aleksander chuckled, “Maybe the girl in your room?”

“What,” Bartosz unconvincingly laughed, “Annalise?” He shook his head with a giant uneasy smile, “No. There’s nothing…”

Aleksander laughed, “She woke up, didn’t she?”

“She wants me to stay,” Bartosz admitted, “I mean it’s not like it's the first time with someone, but like...What if she doesn’t just want to sleep? In my bed?”

Aleksander leaned on his elbow with his chin in his hand. He chuckled, “Well, it's just a question of if you’d want to, yeah?”

Bartosz’s face glowed, “It’s not just that simple. She’s… I…”

“So you don’t want to,” Aleksander asked.

Bartosz shook his head, “No! I mean… I’d like to, but she’s drunk…” He looked towards his room.

Aleksander nodded, "Well, have you tried talking to her about this?"

Bartosz blushed, "What? No. I… I mean I guess I can. I should."

Aleksander stood up and patted his son's shoulder, "I'm heading to sleep. Stay safe. Pleasant dreams." He walked back to his bedroom.

In the other world, Martha walked through the halls of the decrypted nuclear power plant on September 20, 2053, she walked into a room to be greeted by a gravely voice, “Did you give it to him?”

When Martha nodded, Adam turned to tell her, “I was always too gullible.” He turned back to look at the machine and said, “You did the right thing.”

Back in Eve’s World, Bartosz walked back into his bedroom to find Annalise not there. He heard the shower running and sighed in contentment. He blinked as he realized she didn't have a change of clothes. He knocked on the door and called, "do you need some clean clothes?"

The water stopped and he heard walking towards the door. She peeked her head out the door, "I'm sorry. I stole some of your pyjamas." She walked away to go grab it. Bartosz blushed seeing her naked form from the display of mirrors. He turned away with closed eyes. When she came back, she showed him what she stole. They were his soft plaid flannel ones that he loved. Not that he would admit that he loved them to his friends due to them being part of a matching set for his family and normally worn for celebrating holidays.

"Oh," Bartosz nodded, "okay." He turned away and told her, “You can let me know if you need anything else.”

The girl was very quick to walk out. His pants were extremely baggy on her due to his height over her. She was still buttoning the shirt and seemed to be having a bit of issues. She grumbled at the shirt, “Stupid ass buttons.” Eventually, she got it and smiled up at him, “Thank you.” Her face became a little bit more serious, “You know, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to… I just thought… You know…”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” He said hurriedly. His breath caught in his throat trying to explain, “I just didn’t want to make you feel like I’m taking advantage…”

Annalise smiled gently. She closed the distance between them and kissed him gently. She pulled away and shook her head, “You wouldn’t be. I’ve been wanting this.” She pressed her lips against his once more.

Bartosz smiled against the kiss then kissed her back. He wrapped his arms around her once again. He scooped her up once again. The boy walked them to his bed and gently sat down keeping her in his lap for the moment.

Annalise giggled against his lips and pulled them down so that they were laying down staring at each other. She smiled and asked, “Do you think that people are meant to meet?”

Bartosz nodded, “Yeah. I mean statistically it would be impossible for us to meet any other way.” He pulled them towards the head of the bed when he saw her yawn again. He chuckled, “You’re exhausted. Please allow yourself sleep. I will be right here in the morning.”

She yawned and nodded, “Promise?”

“Promise,” he kissed her head and tucked her in before going to get changed and showered himself.

Jonas walked with Martha into her 2052. He stumbled out seeing it so bright and more like a desert.

“What is this place,” Martha asked the boy as they walked through the blistering heat under the blazing sun. They looked around to see the debris of trees before just seeing a sandpit, “Where are we?” She turned to him and asked, “Did you do this? How did you do that?”

Jonas simply told the girl, “She told me to bring you here. That she’d explain it to you.”

“Who,” She asked. They turned to see a lone woman walking towards them. Martha asked, “Who is that?”

The woman stopped in front of them and took off her wraps to reveal herself, “Welcome to the future.”


End file.
